The Yemen-based affiliate of al-Qaeda has denied Yemeni government reports that six of its leaders were killed in an air raid, saying the men only suffered mild injuries.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula made the counter-claim in a statement posted on Monday on the internet, the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors websites used by such groups, said.

"The Yemeni government has been making many false claims ... against the Mujahideen leaders in the Arabian Peninsula," the statement said.

"We assure our Muslim nation that none of the Mujahideen were killed in that strike, but some have suffered mild injuries."

The government claimed on Saturday that the air raid, which took place on Friday, killed Qasim al-Raymi, the Yemeni al-Qaeda wing's military chief, as well as Ayed al-Shabwani, who is accused of sheltering al-Qaeda fighters at his farm in the eastern province of Maarib.

It identified the other men as Ammar al-Waili, Saleh al-Tais, Ibrahim Mohammed Saleh al-Banna. The sixth person was unidentified.

Further attacks

Muttahar al-Masri, Yemen's interior minister, has vowed further strikes on al-Qaeda, state media said.

Yemen has come under increased pressure to stamp out the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group formed from Yemeni and Saudi affiliates of al-Qaeda, after it claimed responsibility for the failed December 25 plot to bomb a US-bound passenger aeroplane.

The government launched several attacks on al-Qaeda

Yemen gained a reputation as an al-Qaeda "haven" after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, and came under the spotlight again after crackdowns on the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan raised fears Yemen could become a training and recruiting centre for fighters.

As well as tackling al-Qaeda, the Yemeni government is fighting the so-called Houthi rebel group in the country's north and a secessionist movement in the south.