ADEN, Yemen, March 22
(Xinhua) -- A missile strike launched by a U.S drone targeted al-Qaida
bases in Yemen's war-torn southern province of Abyan on Thursday,
killing at least 30 fighters of the terrorist group, officials and
witnesses told Xinhua.
A compound used by the al-Qaida group
along with two positions in Zinjibar city, Abyan's provincial capital,
were targeted by missiles fired from a U.S drone, at least 30 militants
were killed and dozens of others injured, a local security official said
on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses told Xinhua anonymously that a
warplane also fired a missile at three vehicles of the al-Qaida group
in downtown Zinjibar carrying foreign fighters, the sound of explosions
and rocket fire could be clearly heard across Zinjibar city.
"There was a missile strike Thursday in
Zinjibar, which targeted vehicles and bases of the al-Qaida group," the
witnesses said, adding that "a lot of people were apparently killed and
their vehicles were completely destroyed at the scene."
"According to our initial information
two missiles believed to have been launched by a U.S drone on an
al-Qaida site located in the center of Zinjibar city," a local military
intelligence officer said anonymously, adding that "we have no confirmed
reports about whether any foreigners were killed during the missile
strike."
The al-Qaida spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
On Wednesday, suspected al-Qaida
militants killed an officer of the Yemeni military intelligence agency
after kidnapping him at Mukalla city, the capital of the southeastern
Hadramout province, a security official told Xinhua.
Al-Qaida militants who took advantage of
the conflicts in the country have seized several towns in Abyan and
Shabwa provinces after fighting with government troops backed by U.S.
drones.
In January 2009, al-Qaida affiliates in
Saudi Arabia and Yemen officially merged and formed Al-Qaida in the
Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP).
The group, mainly entrenching in Yemen's
southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, is on the terrorist list of the
United States, which considers it as an increasing threat to its
national security.
Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the
worsening security situation in Yemen, which is one of the most
impoverished countries in the world, to plot and mount attacks locally
and internationally.
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