At least 13 suspected al-Qaida men killed in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen — A Yemen security official says an explosion in the province of Bayda has killed at least 13 suspected al-Qaida militants.

The official in Bayda's capital city of Radda says the explosion went off in a house owned by a known al-Qaida operative, Ahmed Abdullah Deif-Allah Al-Zahab. It appeared to be an accident.

Residents were barred Sunday from approaching the scene of the incident by militants with links to al-Qaida, the official said.

Early last year Al-Qaida's Yemen-based branch briefly seized the town of Radda, an outpost 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital.

The group is active in southern Yemen and has launched deadly attacks against the military since it lost control of key southern cities it overran in 2011.