Al-Qaida militants launched a fierce attack on government forces in Yemen's provincial capital of the southern troubled province of Abyan on Friday, killing at least one citizen and injuring several security forces, a local security official told Xinhua.

"The battle took place on Friday morning and lasted one hour, in which the well-armed militants of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attempted to seize the Abyan's capital city of Zinjibar," the official said, requesting anonymity.

"The AQAP fighters gathered first in Musaimeer district of Khanfar city, about four km away from Zinjibar, and then marched with their heavy weapons forward Zinjibar for the second attempt to take over the key city of Abyan," the official said.

He also said the security forces fired mortar shells and rocket- propelled grenades and repelled the attack, forcing about 200 al- Qaida militants to withdraw towards Musaimeer.

"According to the reports of the security operation room in Zinjibar, the one-hour battle left a citizen named Al-Qaar killed, and a number of the security troops were injured," he said, adding that there were no available report of casualties among the militants.

Abyan, some 480 km south of the capital Sanaa, is a key stronghold of resurgent AQAP which has carried out frequent attacks against the Yemeni security and military personnel since 2009.

Yemen has witnessed four-month-long anti-government protests that undermined security situations.