Officials: Militants kill 10 Yemeni soldiers

(CNN) -- Militants gunned down 10 soldiers at a military checkpoint in southwestern Yemen, authorities said Thursday.

The incident occurred Wednesday in the town of Lawdar, security officials said.

In an unrelated incident Wednesday, the Yemen Defense Ministry said it had killed Waleed Osairi, an al Qaeda commander, along with several other suspected al Qaeda militants.

The deaths occurred in Abyan province and is part of an effort to clear the area of the terror group, the government said.

Yemen has been consumed by unrest for months as protesters have demanded an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule. Saleh and other senior officials were wounded June 3 in an attack on the mosque at the presidential palace. Saleh is being treated in Saudi Arabia. Officials have said he will return when he has recovered.

In recent weeks, government troops have battled both tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and journalist Hakim Almasari contributed to this report.