ADEN, (AFP) – Suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 14 soldiers in a rocket attack and suicide bombing on Saturday that targeted intelligence headquarters in the main southern city of Aden, a security official said.

“The death toll has increased to 14 soldiers,” the official told AFP, adding that 11 were killed by gunfire and the other three by a “car bomb driven by suicide bomber into the courtyard of the intelligence building.”

“The attack is the work of Al-Qaeda elements,” he said, requesting anonymity.

The same official had said earlier that masked gunmen “used machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades” in the attack in the Tawahi coastal neighbourhood of Aden.

The militants attacked in two groups, with one targeting the south side of the complex, and the other attacking the west side, next to the adjacent state television building.

“Eleven soldiers were killed at the television gate, while three others were killed by the car bomb,” the official said.

He said that many of the soldiers were sleeping when the militants hurled hand grenades into their room.

Four soldiers were wounded, and three television employees, including two women, were also wounded, he said.

The militants managed to escape.

Witnesses said they saw two armoured vehicles on fire at the gate of the television offices.

Al-Qaeda militants remain active in southern Yemen, where separatist militants also attack security forces, pressing their demands for renewed independence for the south.

South Yemen was a separate state before unification with the north in 1990.