Aden (South24 Center)

A soldier from the Southern Security Belt Forces was killed and another wounded on Friday (November 14) when an improvised explosive device, suspected to have been planted by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), struck a southern patrol in the Al-Wadi‘ district of Abyan, military sources told South24 Center.

The device was detonated remotely as the patrol passed along a secondary road, killing one soldier instantly and seriously injuring another. According to a statement published on the southern forces’ official “Deraalganoob” platform, the wounded officer has been identified as Lt. Lutfi Mohsen Hashim, deputy commander of the Security Belt Forces in Al-Wadi‘ district.

The attack comes amid heightened security pressures being faced by southern forces across several battle frontlines.

In a separate incident, a soldier from the Southern Giants Brigades was killed on November 10 in shelling by the Houthi militia in the Harib front of Marib governorate. Earlier, on November 8, a soldier was wounded after being shot by a Houthi sniper in the Battar front of Al-Dhalea, according to a South24 correspondent.

Separately, on the nights of November 13 and 14, the Houthi militia fired more than 50 mortar rounds at the Al-Hadd front in Yafa—on the border with Al-Bayda—marking a notable escalation, a military source told South24.

The AQAP attack in Abyan comes just days after U.S. airstrikes targeted a weapons depot and positions linked to AQAP leaders in the Khawrah area of Lower Markhah district in neighboring Shabwa on November 10, according to a local source.

Sky News Arabia reported that the U.S. strikes killed several individuals, including AQAP field commanders, and destroyed equipment and sites believed to have been used by AQAP militants in eastern Shabwa.

A recent report by the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Yemen, submitted on October 15, 2025, revealed a significant expansion in the Houthis’ ties with designated terrorist organizations—including Somalia’s Al-Shabaab and AQAP—describing the trend as a “strategic shift” that threatens security in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.