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.

'Qaeda militants die' when car bomb goes off too soon

 (AFP) June 5, 2012

ADEN — Five Al-Qaeda militants died in southern Yemen on Tuesday when the car bomb they aimed to set off exploded prematurely, a local official said.

"The accidental explosion occurred in Shaqra (in Abyan province) and killed five extremist fighters," the official said.

Yemeni forces launched an all-out offensive on May 12 aimed at reclaiming the provincial capital Zinjibar and other towns and cities lost to Al-Qaeda over the past year.

Al-Qaeda sometimes uses car bombs against the army and its militia supporters.

On Monday, a suicide bomber blew up a car at a checkpoint in Abyan on Monday, killing four pro-army gunmen, a member of a pro-military auxiliary militia said.

Army foils al-Qaida plot in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen, June 5 (UPI) -- Yemeni security officers said the army thwarted an al-Qaida plot to seize Attaq in a push to establish militant control over a wider area.

With the military and the tribes pushing to regain control of both Jaar and Zinjibar, two towns in Abyan province that fell to al-Qaida last year, high ranking military officers told the Yemen Forum newspaper Tuesday the terror group was trying to spread out and open new fronts in neighboring provinces.

In Abyan, where clashes involving tribes and al-Qaida militants were ongoing, officers from the Republican Guards called for the dissolution of tribal militias, Mareb Press reported. Gen. Ahmed Ali Saleh -- former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son -- predicted militias would turn on the state and support the southern secessionist movement.

Elsewhere, authorities reported an explosion near the ministries of Transport and Finance in Sanaa, Mareb Press reported. Preliminary reports pointed toward an accident rather than a terror attack, officials said.

Houthis take control of three positions in north Yemen, claim confiscating Saudi weapons

By: Shuaib M. al-Mosawa

Jun 4, 2012

The Houthi rebels of the Shiite group said they took over Saudi weapons in renewed battles with armed Salafis in the area of Kittaf area in the province of Sa’ada.

A spokesperson in the media office of the Houthi rebels told the Yemen Observer over the phone that their rivals attacked - on June 2nd - affiliated Houthis in Kittaf, the district boarding the rich oil country, Saudi Arabia. The Houthis accused the Salafis to be baked by Saudi Arabia.

 “Militias of the Saudi regime attacked our brothers in the Kittaf district; we were able to take three key positions and confiscate food rations as well as Saudi Arabian branded weapons.

In 2009, Saudi Arabia had briefly attacked the Houthis claiming that they entered their borderline areas. The Houthis fought killed dozens of the Saudi Patrols in that battle. 

The source said that the Salafis had planted three landmines that were later detonated at a Salafi convoy, bombing three cars. The causalities in both parties could not be confirmed.

Saudi ambulances were seen coming from the port of  al-Boq’a, which borders the Kingdom, to come rescue the injured Salafis, said the Houthi spokesperson.

The battles in Kittaf have been raging sporadically in the area for three months now, and have recently intensified. The Houthi rebels, led by Abdulmalik al-Houthi, agreed last week to engage in the National Dialogue which is part of the GCC brokered deal, aimed at putting an end to the Yemeni political crisis.

Suicide car bomb kills four in Yemen

June 4 2012

By SAPA

A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden car at a checkpoint in Yemen's restive southern province of Abyan on Monday, killing four pro-army gunmen, a member of a pro-army militia said.

The military, meanwhile, reported that six jihadists died in clashes with troops, elsewhere in Abyan.

 “Four of our men were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives at a checkpoint between Loder and Shaqra” in Abyan, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees fighting alongside the army said.

The militiamen from the Popular Resistance Committees are mainly armed local residents fighting alongside the Yemeni army against Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The source, who declined to be named, told AFP that militiamen foiled a similar attempt by another suicide attacker who passed by a checkpoint held by the gunmen.

The bomber blew himself up after militiamen pointed their guns at him to shoot him. He was killed alone, according to the same source.

Meanwhile south of Abyan's capital Zinjibar, clashes between Al-Qaeda militants and the army left six jihadists dead and five wounded, a military official said. A soldier was also wounded in the fighting.

Yemeni forces launched an all-out offensive on May 12 aimed at reclaiming Zinjibar and other towns and cities in the province lost to Al-Qaeda over the past year.

Since the assault began, at least 397 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled from official statements, including 291 Al-Qaeda fighters, 66 military personnel, 22 local militiamen and 18 civilians. - Sapa-AFP