Yemen says Islamists retreat from southern town

June 17, 2012

ADEN (Reuters) - Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda were abandoning one of the last cities where they still had a foothold after weeks of bombardments and airstrikes in a U.S.-backed government offensive, Yemeni officials said on Sunday.

Elsewhere in Yemen's south, a security official was killed in a bomb attack, showing the militants' ability to strike despite the loss of a territorial base they had held for over a year.

The Defence Ministry said large groups of fighters of the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia, which swears allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, had withdrawn from Azzan in the southern province of Shabwa. It borders Abyan province, the focus of the military campaign.

Ansar al-Sharia seized control of several cities in Abyan last year during a wave of protests against the three-decade rule of then leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, who redeployed some of his forces from the south to cope with the unrest.

Among the towns seized was Abyan's capital, Zinjibar, which the military said it had retaken last week.

The United States is increasingly concerned about the militant presence in Yemen and has supported the government forces with training, intelligence, drone strikes and increased military aid. The Pentagon has declined to give details of the scale of the aid, however.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday congratulated the government on the success of the offensive and urged it to swiftly restore civilian authority, humanitarian relief and essential public services to southern cities.

Separately, a colonel who led security forces in the town of Rawkab, southern Hadramout province, was killed in a bombing he blamed on Islamist militants, a security official said.

Two soldiers were wounded in the attack outside the town's police station, the official said.