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| Arabia |
| 9 Killed as Yemen Army, 'Qaida' Clash near Capital |
| 2014-05-26 |
| [An Nahar] Yemen's military and al-Qaeda suspects who fled an army offensive in the south clashed in a district near the capital Sunday, killing six troops and three jihadists, security and tribal sources said. And two overnight drone strikes targeted al-Qaeda suspects in Wasl, a village in Arhab, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Sanaa, tribal sources in the area said. The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but U.S. officials rarely acknowledge the covert program. Militants fled the drone strikes to a village in the same area, Ozer, where Yemeni troops launched a ground attack, according to the sources. A security official said Yemeni anti-terrorism forces killed three al-Qaeda turbans and tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! four others. The tribal sources told Agence La Belle France Presse that six members of Yemen's special forces also died in the fighting. Troops arrested 12 al-Qaeda suspects -- eight Saudis and four Yemenis, according to the sources. The army has sealed off Arhab, they added. The sources said the suspects had fought in late 2011 in Syria, where foreign turbans have joined an armed revolt against the regime. The turbans returned to Yemen and were in al-Qaeda's southern bastions of Shabwa and Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirateafter seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... before an army offensive launched on April 29 drove them out to Arhab, they said. The army says it inflicted heavy losses on al-Qaeda in the offensive. But analysts say the gains may have been the result of a tactical retreat by al-Qaeda in coordination with powerful tribes. |
| Posted by:Fred |