Yemen: 35 al-Qaida militants killed in clashes

May 24, 2012

SANAA— Yemen says its troops have killed 35 al-Qaida militants in an attack on a hideout in the country's south, part of a wider offensive.

The attack comes four days after al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a military parade rehearsal in the capital, Sanaa. The bombing killed 96 Yemeni soldiers. Funerals for 67 of the soldiers were held on Thursday.

The Defense Ministry said Thursday that in its attack, the Yemeni military took control of Wadi Banaa Arab, near the town of Jaar, another al-Qaida stronghold.

For several weeks, Yemen's military has been pushing an offensive against al-Qaida, aiming to uproot the militants from territory they overran during more than a year of internal political turmoil in Yemen. Casualties have been high on both sides.

Clinton: State department hacked al-Qaida sites in Yemen, part of covert war on terror

Clinton: State department hacked al-Qaida sites in Yemen, part of covert war on terror

May 24, 2012

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says U.S. cyber experts hacked al-Qaida propaganda online in Yemen, changing ads that bragged about killing Americans into ads that showed the death toll of al-Qaida attacks against Yemenis.

Clinton says the cyber attack was launched by State Department specialists who patrol the web and social media to counter al-Qaida's attempts to recruit new followers. It was a rare public admission of the ongoing covert cyber war against extremists.

Speaking in Tampa, Fla., alongside special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven, Clinton said the effort is part of a multipronged attack on terrorism that goes beyond raids like the one that killed Osama bin Laden to include diplomats working alongside special operations forces to shore up local governments and economies and train local forces.