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June 18, 2012
AFP
Sanaa (Yemen)
A suicide bomber killed on Monday a top Yemeni army general who was
leading the fight against Al-Qaeda in the country's restive south, medical and
military officials told agencies.
General Salem Ali Qoton, southern Yemeni army commander, was killed in
the port city of Aden while on his way to office in an attack seen as a blow to
Yemen's fight against the militant group.
"General Qoton was killed and four others were wounded in a suicide
attack," near his home in the Mansoura neighbourhood of Aden, the medic
said on condition of anonymity.
The medic, who is also a relative of Qoton, said the attacker 'handed
Qoton a paper, shook his hand and then detonated himself,' when the general was
walking to his office.
As the chief military commander in south Yemen, Qoton had led a
month-long offensive against Al-Qaeda, forcing the militant group to withdraw
from several towns and villages in the restive Abyan and Shabwa provinces which
they had controlled since last year.
The Monday morning attack came as Al-Qaeda fled from their last bastion
in the town of Azzan in Shabwa.
Since last week, Al-Qaeda has withdrawn from three other strongholds in
Abyan, including the capital Zinjibar, and the towns of Jaar and Shuqra.
Qoton was appointed in March just days after newly elected President
Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took office and pledged to destroy Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, the name given to the militant group's local Yemen branch.
The post had been held for decades by General Mahdi Maqola, known for
his close ties to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh was accused by his opponents of allowing Al-Qaeda to establish a
stronghold in Yemen's mostly lawless south and east.
Qoton's appointment was in line with the Gulf sponsored power-transition
deal that saw Saleh quit after 33 years in power, and required Hadi to
restructure the Yemeni army during a two-year interim period.
Ali Mansur, a senior army commander and close aide to Qoton described
the general's death as 'a huge loss for Yemen and its efforts to fight
Al-Qaeda'.
Speaking to AFP by phone, Mansur said the attack 'bears the hallmark of
Al-Qaeda,' though the militant group have not formally claimed responsibility
for his death.
He gave Qoton full credit for the recent Yemen army's victories against
Al-Qaeda in both Abyan and Shabwa.
'In just three months, Qoton achieved major progress towards chasing
down and eliminating' the militants from their strongholds, said Mansur.
Azzan's deputy mayor said on Monday that Al-Qaeda completely withdrew
from the town, the last bastion in Yemen where the militants had full control.
Yaslam Bajanoub said that the jihadists 'handed over the city late
Sunday night to a committee of tribal mediators'.
Al-Qaeda had declared an Islamic emirate in the desert town where
hundreds of fighters are believed to have sought refuge after fleeing their
strongholds in Abyan which fell to army control this past week.
Bajanoub said the jihadists also fled the neighbouring village of
Al-Huta.
On May 12, the Yemeni army began its offensive to recapture territory
lost to the militants.
A total of 567 people have died in the campaign -- 429 Al-Qaeda
militants, 78 soldiers, 26 militiamen and 34 civilians -- according to an AFP
tally compiled from various sources.
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