Apr.
10, 2012
Associated
Press
SANAA,
Yemen -- Heavy clashes overnight between al-Qaida-linked militants and the
Yemeni military in the country's south have killed 63 people, bringing the
two-day death toll in the fighting to 127, army officials said Tuesday.
The
latest fighting points to escalating hostilities between the government and
militants linked to the terror network who have sought to take advantage of the
turmoil roiling the country since a popular uprising began early last year
against longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The militants seized
control of towns in the lawless south and staged attacks against government
troops there and elsewhere in the impoverished Arab nation.
The
military officials said the fighting that broke out in the town of Lawder in
Abyan province early Monday spilled over into Tuesday, with the army shelling
militant hideouts in an effort to prevent them from sending reinforcements.
They
said 56 militants, four soldiers and three tribal fighters were killed
overnight and early Tuesday.
Fighting
also erupted Tuesday along the border of Shabwa and Marib provinces, where
militants ambushed an army post. Eight soldiers and three militants were killed
in that attack, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to brief the media.
Al-Qaida
was once present in Lawder, but in July residents drove them out. A few months
later al-Qaida was blamed for planting a roadside bomb that killed two
civilians there, and, as Monday's attack demonstrates, they continue to try to
regain their foothold.
For
the militants, Lawder is a strategic city. It lies along a major highway that
links Abyan's provincial capital of Zinjibar, an al-Qaida stronghold, to the
provinces of Hadramawt, Bayda and Shabwa where the group is active.
The
area is now a patchwork of government- and militant-controlled towns.
Inspired
by Arab revolts elsewhere, Yemen's popular uprising forced Saleh out of office
in February. His successor and former deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was
later rubber-stamped as president in a single-candidate nationwide vote that
was part of a power transfer deal backed by the U.S. and Gulf Arab states led
by Saudi Arabia.
Washington
hopes that Hadi can bolster the government's authority and make good on his
pledges to fight al-Qaida. But in addition to his war with the militants, he
also faces a challenge from Saleh loyalists and a crippled economy.
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