Car rigged with explosives kills 2 in Yemen

By AHMED AL-HAJ - Associated Press

June 6, 2012

SANAA, Yemen -- Yemeni security officials say two civilians were killed and a third was wounded when their car, rigged by al-Qaida militants, exploded in the southern port city of Aden.

The officials say the militants planted explosives in the car of a man they suspected of being a government informer. The man was killed in the blast, which occurred as the three were driving into Aden on Wednesday.

The officials say the injured man was taken to a hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

The car's owner was from the nearby Abyan province where the Yemeni army has been engaged in fierce battles to dislodge al-Qaida militants from areas they seized during last year's political turmoil.

Yemeni bulldozers dismantle anti-Saleh camp

Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi orders the clearing of the revolution's main protest camp in Change Square

AFP , Wednesday 6 Jun 2012

Five bulldozers deployed by Yemeni authorities on Wednesday began dismantling the main protest camp against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who stepped down in February after a year-long uprising.

The bulldozers cleared several tents from the main roads near the capital's Sanaa University without any resistance from the youth who have occupied the district since February 2011, an AFP correspondent reported.

The decision to clear the area, dubbed since protests began as "Change Square", was made by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

He was elected in February this year after Saleh, bowing to domestic and international pressure, abandoned power after 30 years in office.

Hundreds were killed in the crackdown by Saleh loyalists on nationwide protests in the impoverished country during the uprising.

Few tents will, however, remain in the middle of the square as a reminder of the youth's demands for a "civil state" and to put on trial "corrupt leaders," including Hadi, according to activists.

On November 23, Saleh signed a Gulf-brokered deal after months of stalling, and handed power to Hadi, his then deputy, to implement the plan.

Early presidential elections were held with Hadi as the sole candidate after a consensual government led by the opposition was formed, while Saleh and his aides received immunity against prosecution.

Yemen pushes offensive, killing 26 fighters

June 6, 2012

By Ahmed al-Haj

Associated Press

SAN'A, Yemen - Yemen's army battled al-Qaeda extremists in two contested southern towns, killing at least 26, the country's Defense Ministry said Tuesday, part of its weeks-long offensive against the extremists.

In a separate development, sectarian clashes in northern Yemen have left at least 16 dead over the last two days.

Yemen's government has claimed for weeks that it is on the verge of recapturing Zinjibar, capital of the southern Abyan province, that fell to extremists more than a year ago, and that it is pushing on to the al-Qaeda stronghold of Jaar. Battles in the two places rage on.

In the latest fighting, the ministry reported intense overnight clashes between government troops backed by artillery in Zinjibar and nearby Qut that left 23 dead, including Pakistani and Somalian nationals.

Also, fighting in the town of Jaar left 10 al-Qaeda fighters dead or wounded, military officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

To the east of Zinjibar, four al-Qaeda extremists were killed and one wounded while preparing a car bomb in the coastal town of Shaqra, an official said.

On Monday, two suicide bombers tried to hit army barracks and checkpoints in the same town in an attempt to stop the military from advancing in the south, killing four army-allied militiamen. Al-Qaeda has increasingly used suicide bombers and car bombs to try to halt the military offensive in the south, which started escalating May 12.

Al-Qaeda-linked extremists took advantage of Yemen's political turmoil last year to seize broad swaths of territory in the south. The network's branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was behind the failed Christmas 2009 attempt to bomb an American airliner and other attempted attacks.