Twin air strikes Tuesday on a house in the Al-Qaeda stronghold of Jaar in south Yemen killed two jihadists and eight civilians, witnesses said.

The Al-Qaeda suspects were killed in the first air strike while eight civilians who had gathered around the residence right after the attack died in a second air raid, witnesses said.

"Eight bodies were pulled out of the rubble," one witness said. Twenty-five civilians were also wounded in the assault.

It was not clear whether the raid on Jaar, in southern Abyan province, was carried out by US drones or by the Yemeni air force.

A Yemeni aircraft had on Friday dropped leaflets across Abyan province warning residents to stay clear of areas where Al-Qaeda militants are gathered.

Meanwhile, an army official said that two soldiers were killed in battles between Yemen's army and Al-Qaeda militants around Loder, another town in Abyan which jihadists have been trying to control.

The official said that 13 members of the Popular Resistance Committees, formed by residents of Loder and nearby Mudia to battle jihadists alongside the army, were wounded in the clashes.

Yemeni forces at the weekend launched an all-out offensive to recapture Al-Qaeda-held towns and cities across Abyan, including its capital Zinjibar.

Tribal sources said Monday that battles in the south had seen 37 militants killed in two days, but AFP could not independently verify the toll.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that 12 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched on Saturday. But the defence ministry news website 26sep.net put the toll at six dead.