WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is sending military trainers back into Yemen for what it calls "routine" cooperation with Yemeni security forces.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, said Tuesday that "small numbers" of U.S. trainers have returned to Yemen recently. He would not be more specific about the number or when they arrived there.

Yemen is a key battleground in the conflict with al-Qaida. It has been a launching pad for attacks against the United States by the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula

A U.S. military training program in Yemen was suspended last year after then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was badly injured in a militant attack. The new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has requested increased U.S. counterterrorist cooperation.

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