21 al-Qaeda militants killed in Yemen's Abyan

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 30, 2012- Local news websites stated that several casualties, including two children and a woman, were killed on Monday afternoon during heavy artillery shelling in the Yemeni city of Lawder conducted by al-Qaeda militants.

''Also several civilians were wounded when al-Qaeda militants targeted the houses of residents of Lawder,'' a resident reported.

The clashes between Yemeni troops backed by tribesmen and Ansar al-Sharea, an Islamic group linked to al-Qaeda, renewed on Monday in Yemen's southern province of Abyan after the death of a senior army officer, who was murdered by al-Qaeda militants.

Furthermore, sources in Abyan province said that the artillery shelling targeting the tents of marginalization ''Akhdam'' people, west of Lawder city, wounding scores of them.

Meanwhile, fierce clashes killed at least 21 people, including 18 al-Qaeda militants, on Monday near the southern Yemeni town of Lawder, which Al-Qaeda is trying to capture.

The other dead were an army officer and two tribal volunteers aiding the military.

The source said the A-Qaeda militants were forced to retreat in the direction of Um Aen city.

Witnesses stated the fighting lasted for several hours, and that air force planes had bombed militant positions in the mountains southeast of Lawder, from which columns of smoke could be seen rising.