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By Mohammed Mukhashaf
May 15, 2012
ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - At least 44 people including 30 Islamist
militants were killed overnight in Yemen, officials and residents said on
Tuesday, as the government pressed ahead with a new U.S.-backed offensive
against insurgents in the south.
The Islamist rebellion is of serious concern to the United States and to
Yemen's much bigger neighbour Saudi Arabia, which both fear that instability
could give al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional wing a bigger foothold near oil
shipping routes through the Red Sea.
Residents and local officials said heavy fighting erupted late on Monday
between the army and militants in an area called al-Jabalain in the south, as
troops tried to advance on the militant-held city of Jaar.
The clashes continued until early on Tuesday, killing at least eight
militants and one Yemeni soldier, they said, adding that the army had captured
two Somali Islamist fighters.
Since the start of anti-government protests in early 2011, Islamist
militants calling themselves Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) have
expanded their influence in Yemen, seizing several towns and swathes of
territory in the south.
Although the group is inspired by al Qaeda, the precise nature of their
operational ties is unclear.
Both seek the application of Islamic law and Ansar al-Sharia this month
said it had released more than 70 captured Yemeni soldiers on orders from
Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations working in Yemen
called in a statement on "involved parties to take all necessary steps to
avoid civilian casualties and to minimise collateral damage".
ZAWAHRI CALLS FOR ISLAMIC STATE
In an Internet message on Tuesday, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri said
a power transition deal that eased long-ruling President Abdullah Saleh from
power was a "great plot" by the United States and Western-allied
Saudi Arabia to prevent Islamic militants from taking over in Yemen.
"All of the corrupt forces have agreed to fight the Mujahidden
under the American flag and with Saudi funding," Zawahri said in the audio
recording, posted on Islamist websites, whose authenticity could not be
independently verified.
"The popular movement ... should be determined in cleansing the
country from corrupt politicians who suck the people's blood like vampires ...
and moving towards building a Muslim Yemen governed by God's law," he
said.
On Tuesday morning, an air strike hit two suspected militant vehicles in
Jaar, killing seven passengers and three others in a nearby house, residents
said.
As people gathered to assess the damage, a second strike killed six of
them, all civilians, the residents added.
Near the southern town of Lawdar, 12 militants, five government-allied
tribal fighters, and two soldiers were killed in clashes in an area called
Jebel Yasuf, according to a member of one of the tribal committees that have
sprung up in the south to fill a security vacuum and fend off Islamist
fighters.
Washington has also stepped up its drone attacks in Yemen since
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February, and the Pentagon said
last week it had resumed sending military trainers.
