Al-Qaeda launched attacks on two army positions in southeast Yemen early on Friday that left 15 soldiers and 19 jehadists dead as well as several civilians wounded, army and medical sources said. An officer said the attacks targeted army positions near the town of Shibam in Hadramawt province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda whose militants control its capital Mukalla. Twelve soldiers and 19 jihadists were killed, according to the officer, but a medical source later said the army lost 15 men and several civilians were wounded in the attacks. The main attack was staged at the western entrance to Shibam, which is known as the “Manhattan of the Desert” and listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its high-rise mud-brick buildings. local officials said fierce clashes broke out after Al-Qaeda militants exploded a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol, while a suicide bomber blew up a car at an army post near a residential area. “The blast damaged many homes, wounding several civilians,” the medical source said in Seiyun, where the casualties and the bodies of the soldiers were transported.