ADEN (AFP) ― Rival attacks by suspected al-Qaida militants and pro-government militiamen east of the Yemen’s main southern city Aden on Wednesday killed six people, tribal sources said.

“Militiamen supporting the army attacked a public building in (the Abyan provincial capital) Zinjibar killing four al-Qaida militants, including a Pakistani doctor,” one tribal source said.

Two of the attackers were wounded, he added.

In a separate incident, a bomb planted by suspected al-Qaida militants exploded near a checkpoint in the nearby town of Loder set up by a local committee formed to assist the government in its battle against the Islamists, another tribal source said.

Two of the committee members were killed and nine wounded, the source said.