Yemeni warplanes hit two suspected al-Qaida strongholds on Monday in the southern province of Abyan, one day after the country said it killed two suspects there in a similar raid, state media and local sources said. 'Yemeni Air Force jets carried out a new raid one hour ago against a suspected hideout of al-Qaida branch at Modia district in Abyan,' security sources in Abyan was quoted by the ruling party's al-Motamar website as saying. 'The site is located at an area called al-Hamra Jabal Dhraa Jiza al-Ghannam at the district of Modia,' the portal quoted local sources there as saying, adding that 'the area has recently witnessed a noticeable activity from al-Qaida militants, which was detected by Yemeni security apparatuses.' Meanwhile, local independent media said on Monday that Yemeni fighters carried out another raid against a suspected al-Qaida hideout in neighboring Loudar district in the same province. Both reports did not say whether there were any deaths or casualties. Earlier Monday, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said in a statement that two al- Qaida militants were killed and several others injured late Sunday night in an air strike that targeted suspected strongholds in Modia district, Abyan province. A security source at the Interior Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that an anti-terror unit has been dispatched to the area for DNA tests to identify the dead militants. In January, Yemen said it carried out a series of air strikes against hideouts of al-Qaida's branch in the country, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, as well as Arhab district, to the northeast of the capital Sanaa, leaving some 60 militants killed and dozens of others arrested. The AQAP, which said the deadly strikes were conducted by the United States, has claimed responsibility for a foiled Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S. airliner while on its way to Detroit. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida world network leader Osama bin Laden, is stepping up efforts to solve a discontent among southern separatists and implement economic reforms after it ends a six-year fighting with northern Shiite rebels. 