Twenty-eight suspected members of al-Qaeda were killed Friday in the city of Lord, in Yemen's Abyan province, in military operations, state media reported.

Counter-terrorism forces were chasing "the rest of the retreating terrorists" into the mountains, the SABA news agency said.

The government has said that such military operations will continue in what is its most intense phase of attacks since the February inauguration of Yemen's new president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.

The military committee, the country's highest security authority, has said the government will not allow al Qaeda to expand and will use an iron fist against the militants in the country's southern provinces.