Al-Qaida militants killed three Yemeni military officials in an ambush Saturday in the country's oil-producing province of Marib, officials said.

"General Nasser Mahdi Farid, the chief-of-staff of the central military region in Marib, and two other military officers were killed when their convoy was intercepted and attacked by militants of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)," an interior ministry official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

About 11 soldiers who escorted the convoy were seriously injured with gunshots in the attack, said the official.

The AQAP confirmed the attack in a statement obtained by Xinhua, saying that "the Mujahideen set up an ambush in al-Dhameen area against a military convoy en route to Safer area, killing the convoy's commander General Nasser Mahdi Farid and several others."

"The al-Qaida fighters also seized two vehicles of the military convoy," it said.

The attack, which took place near Wadi Abida area of the northeastern province of Marib, came one day after tribal gunmen of the same area bombed the country's main oil export pipeline for the fifth time in less than a month.

The army on Friday launched a major assault on the area's tribesmen whom the local authorities accused of repeatedly attacking the main crude line, according to the officials.

The government has failed to repair the line due to continuing conflicts in Marib, highlighting the persistent insecurity in the country even one year after a political upheaval.

U.S. drones and Yemeni warplanes have regularly targeted the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing, which exploited security vacuum during Yemen's unrest last year. Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said fighting the AQAP tops his daily agenda when he was elected in February.