A wave of air strikes on Al-Qaeda bases in south Yemen on Sunday killed about 55 militants, including three local chiefs, the interior ministry said. The raids that targeted Al-Qaeda bases in the rugged mountains of Abyan province were among the "most severe" against the jihadist network in Yemen, the ministry said in a statement on its website on Monday. On Sunday tribal sources had put the death toll from the raids near the town of Al-Mahfad at more than 30, while a defence ministry website only said "several" militants had been killed.