Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen on Thursday seized control of an airport in the southeastern provincial capital of Mukalla, an airport official told AFP.

"The military unit in charge of security at the facility withdrew without resisting" Al-Qaeda fighters, the official said.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the jihadist network's powerful Yemeni branch, took advantage of the country's growing chaos earlier this month to seize control of Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province.