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Al-Qaida seizes two towns in southern Yemen

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch seized two towns in Yemen's southern province of Abyan after clashes with pro-government forces on Wednesday, a military official told Xinhua.

The al-Qaida militants launched coordinated attacks in the morning against pro-government forces and took control of Jaar and Abyan's provincial capital of Zinjibar, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses said that a senior tribal commander and several others were killed in the fighting in Abyan.

The Popular Resistance, which supports the government in the civil war, has dispatched reinforcement from other southern cities and started to move toward Abyan province, while many local residents began to leave for fear of escalating battles, according to local tribal sources.

Abyan province, the home of Yemeni President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is 45 km away from the port city of Aden, the country's temporary capital.

The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized full control of Abyan province four years ago, and engaged in a one-year fighting with army forces and pro-government tribal fighters, leaving hundreds of people killed before they retreated to the neighbouring province of Hadramout.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current civil war to expand its influence in Yemen's southern regions.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians. Endit