5 Al-Qaida Militants Killed, 8 Wounded in Airstrikes in South Yemen

Xinhua August 15, 2011

At least five al-Qaida militants were killed and eight others injured on Monday when warplanes of the Yemeni air forces raided several hideouts of the terrorist group in the southern province of Abyan, local army officers said.

Several government buildings and compounds seized by the al- Qaida militants late in May were pounded in the airstrikes in downtown Zinjibar city, the provincial capital of Abyan province, leaving five members of the terrorist group killed and eight others injured, the officer told Xinhua, asking to remain anonymous.

"Huge damages were caused to the government buildings and compounds, which used to be places of the al-Qaida militants for meetings and military operations," he added.

A source close to the al-Qaida militants told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that disputes broke out Monday among the leading members of the terrorist group on "managing the affairs of Abyan's second largest-city of Jaar."

"Disagreements on how to manage the affairs of the al-Qaida seized Jaar city led to clashes among themselves in the al-Ree neighborhood in Jaar," he said.

No information about casualties of the clashes was available, according to the source.

Abyan, some 480 km south of the capital Sanaa, has become almost under control of resurgent al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula since the militants seized Zinjibar and Jaar late in May.