Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in a Sunday suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport in second city Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said.

"A suicide bomber driving a bomb-laden vehicle blew himself up on Sunday upon arrival at a checkpoint near Aden airport," the official told AFP.

"Four soldiers were killed and two others were wounded," he added, without blaming any group for the attack.

Yemen has been rocked by more than a year of fighting between Iran-backed rebels and pro-government forces, supported by a Saudi-led coalition.

Jihadists have exploited the unrest, with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group strengthening their presence in the south, including in Aden, which is serving as a temporary capital for the government.

Both groups have claimed several attacks against the army and government installations in the port city.

On Friday, a car bomb exploded in the port city near a building housing the foreign ministry, without causing casualties, security sources said.

IS claimed responsibility for that attack and also for a suicide bombing Tuesday in Aden targeting army recruits that killed five.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have launched operations against jihadists in recent weeks, backed by the firepower of the Arab coalition.

Late Saturday, five Al-Qaeda suspects were killed in Arab coalition air raids against two vehicles carrying jihadists in Jaar, a town in the southern Abyan province, security officials said.

Other strikes hit suspected militants in Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, the sources said, without providing a casualty toll.  

Pro-government forces on Friday expelled Al-Qaeda fighters from Huta, another provincial capital close to Aden, and arrested 49 people suspected of being militants, security officials said. 

The United Nations has raised alarm over the growing influence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and the mounting civilian toll from the coalition air strikes as it pushed all sides to come to the negotiating table for talks to be held in Kuwait on Monday.

More than 6,400 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign in March last year to push back the rebels, who still retain control of the capital Sanaa.