Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi said late on Tuesday that he is ready for dialogue with militants of Al-Qaeda, but only if they give up their weapons and show repentance.

"I've always said that despite the blood that has been shed, the homes that have been destroyed and the people that have been displaced, we would consider dialogue on condition that they give up their weapons, announce their repentance... and stop protecting armed groups," Hadi said in a televised address.

The president, who took office in February after months of protests and street battles forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, vowed in his acceptance speech to eradicate Al-Qaeda loyalists who seized large swathes of southern and Yemen during last year's power vacuum.

But Hadi said Tuesday: "Mediators... pressured me to accept dialogue."

He did not elaborate on the identity of the mediators but added: "The mediators often go and never come back again."

Hadi announced an all-out offensive against the jihadists in May that led to the recapture of a string of towns in the southern province of Abyan the following month.

But the militants continue to battle troops in Yemen's eastern provinces and are believed to be responsible for a series of attacks in recent weeks on senior security officials both in the provinces and in the capital Sanaa.

Hadi's speech marked the 50th anniversary of the uprising in Sanaa that overthrew the imamate -- the Zaidi Shiite theocracy that ruled the north before the establishment of the republic.