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Wed Mar 7, 2012
ADEN (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group in
Yemen has threatened the lives of 73 government troops it says it has captured,
demanding the authorities release its fellow Islamist fighters from jail in
exchange for the soldiers' safety.
The threat from the Ansar al-Sharia group
(Partisans of Islamic Law), whose precise ties to al Qaeda remain unclear, was
delivered via a text message sent to Reuters on Wednesday, and followed a
fierce fire fight in the south of the country on Sunday between government troops
and militants that left at least 110 government troops dead.
"The
mujahideen demand the release of their prisoners from the national and
political security jails in exchange for saving the lives of 73 soldiers they
hold captive in Abyan," the text message read.
"In the event
of failure to comply with their (the militants') demands, the lives of the
soldiers will be in danger," it added.
The militants also urged relatives of the
captured soldiers to lobby the U.S. ambassador to Yemen and President Abd-Rabbo
Mansour Hadi, Yemen's newly-elected leader, on the soldiers' behalf.
There was no way to verify whether the text
message was really from the militants but they have often used this method to
communicate with local media in the past.
The army said on Monday some of its soldiers
had gone missing but did not say how many. Hadi, who was elected just last
month, has said his forces will hunt the militants down.
The militants struck on Sunday, launching
suicide attacks on two military posts outside the southern city of Zinjibar in
the province of Abyan. Medics said at least 110 government soldiers died in the
blasts and clashes that followed. The militants, who reportedly lost 20 of
their own fighters in the violence, are pressing for government forces to
abandon the city of Zinjibar to them. They said they had taken at least 70 government
troops prisoner on Sunday.
In another text message on Wednesday, the
militants also said they had allowed a Red Cross medical team into Jaar, a
small town in the same province which they control, so that wounded government
soldiers could receive treatment.
The head of the Yemeni delegation of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed separately that a
small team of surgeons and doctors had been granted access to Jaar, where they
treated 12 soldiers in a makeshift hospital in a school.
"We managed
yesterday mid-morning to obtain authorisation by (the) armed group Ansar
al-Sharia to come and do some medical work in Jaar in Abyan province,"
Eric Marclay told Reuters, adding that the 12 soldiers were now in a stable
condition.
Ansar al-Sharia is inspired by al Qaeda but the
precise extent of its ties to the global militant network are unclear, although
the Yemeni government says they are one and the same. Some analysts say it may
be local militant groups at work however.
A year of political upheaval has severely
weakened central government control over swathes of Yemen in favour of Islamist
militants, who have expanded their foothold in the south, near oil shipping
routes through the Red Sea.
Militants seized the town of Jaar - the second
largest in Abyan - last March, while protests against former President Ali
Abdullah Saleh paralysed the country.
Wary of al Qaeda entrenchment in Yemen, the
United States backed a Gulf-brokered deal under which Saleh handed power to
Hadi, who is tasked with leading the impoverished nation for the next two years.
The bloody attack on Sunday underlined the
scale of the challenge Hadi faces.
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