[An Nahar] Two air strikes by the Yemeni air force killed five suspected Al-Qaeda members in southern Yemen on Friday, the interior ministry said.The strikes targeted suspected bully boyz in the town of Al-Mahfad, in the southern province of 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...
, the ministry said on its website.
Yemeni jets have conducted several raids in the valleys near Al-Mahfad during the past three days, witnesses told AFP.
In the past, drone strikes have also targeted Qaeda-linked groups in the south of the country.