Armed tribesmen in southern Yemen say they have routed Islamist militants from most of Zinjibar, the capital of volatile Abyan province.

Tribal sources say fierce clashes Monday sent many militants fleeing north to the town of Lawdar, where they again were repelled.

The New York Times quotes local residents as saying only pockets of Islamist militants remain in Zinjibar, and that the city is largely under the control of government troops and tribesmen, who closed entrances of the town four days earlier.

An estimated 90,000 civilians have fled Abyan to escape the violence as the army and tribesmen confront the Islamists.

Militants in Zinjibar call themselves Ansar Shariah, or supporters of Islamic law. The Yemeni government says they have links to al-Qaida, a group the U.S. holds to be a significant threat.

Separately, Yemeni authorities identified the suicide bomber in an attack on a military convoy that killed nine soldiers on Sunday as Turki Saad al-Sharani. The Saudi national is named on a list of dozens of al-Qaida-linked militants wanted in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The attack occurred outside an army camp in the southern coastal city of Aden.