At least four people have been killed in the battles that erupted Tuesday night between tribesmen and Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen's Marib province, Almasdar Online reported on Wednesday.

The dead were three militants including the son of the Al-Qaeda leader Saud bin Moaily and a tribesman, it reported quoting local sources.

"The battles erupted in the Selwa area south of the Wadi Abida district after suspected Al-Qaeda militants attacked the house of a tribesman who cooperated with the authorities," the sources said.

The Yemeni army has been fighting Al-Qaeda militants and tribal saboteurs in Wadi Abida after repeated attacks on the Marib oil pipeline and a deadly ambush that killed key military and security officers and several soldiers.

The ambush targeted the victims while they were patrolling the area to prevent more attacks on the pipeline, which stopped pumping in early last month after successive bombings in the district.

Separately, the Yemeni authorities have been meeting with tribal elders in an effort to convince them to play a key role in enabling the technical team to fix the pipeline.