Posts
June 16, 2012
21 al Qaeda militants killed in south Yemen
Sanaa: Yemeni government troops killed 21 al Qaeda fighters in the latest
clashes in the country's south, military officials said on Saturday, while
Washington commended Yemen for successfully routing militants from some
strategic southern strongholds.
The military officials said 17 militants died
in fighting that raged until early morning around Azan town in southern Shabwa
province. Six soldiers were wounded in those clashes, the officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Four other militants and one soldier died in
fighting today in the Hassan valley area in the adjoining Abyan province, the
officials also said. The valley is located east of the provincial capital of
Zinjibar, which al-Qaida captured last year and held until recently along with
several other towns in Abyan.
Al Qaeda's fighters took advantage of a
security vacuum last year during a popular uprising that ousted Yemen's
longtime leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to seize swaths of territory in the strategic
south. That raised fears it could use the area as a foothold to launch more
attacks on US targets.
No comments:
Post a Comment