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| Arabia |
| 'Qaida' Gunmen Seize Abyan Town |
| 2011-08-19 |
| [An Nahar] Suspected al-Qaeda gunnies have seized control of the town of Shaqra in lawless Abyan province, a stronghold of the jihadist network in southern Yemen, a local official said on Thursday. "al-Qaeda gunnies have attacked positions of armed rustics" tasked with defending the town on Wednesday, and have "managed to drive them away without any resistance," the official told Agence La Belle France Presse. Tribesmen backing government forces in the restive region had in mid-July chased the suspected al-Qaeda snuffies from Shaqra. The town lies 35 kilometers east of Zinjibar -- the picturesque provincial capital that has been mostly under the control of suspected al-Qaeda gunnies since late May. The snuffies tried to advance to nearby villages after taking control of Shaqra but "their advance was halted by rustics, and festivities broke out," a tribal source told AFP. Yemeni rustics have in past weeks been locked in battle with suspected Al-Qaeda snuffies in Abyan, especially in Zinjibar. The army has been battling the snuffies calling themselves Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), who have besieged its 25th Mechanized Brigade base in Zinjibar. Apart from Shaqra and Zinjibar, Islamist gunnies control the village of Jaar. |
| Posted by:Fred |