The jihadist Islamic State group claimed responsibility for attacks Friday on army positions in southeast Yemen, SITE monitoring group said, after the military had blamed Al-Qaeda for the deadly assaults.

IS said in a statement, quoted by SITE Intelligence Group, that 50 Yemeni troops were killed in a suicide attack and clashes in Hadramawt province.

The Yemeni army earlier said Al-Qaeda launched the attacks on army positions near the town of Shibam, and that 12 soldiers and 19 jihadists were killed while medics said the army lost 15 men.