Five killed in clashes between Qaida fighters, residents in Yemeni town

Image via Wikipedia

SANAA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed Saturday in clashes between al-Qaida militants, who overran Yemen' s southeastern town of Radda, and local residents, a provincial security official said, as government forces re-seized entrances of Radda.

"Two al-Qaida militants and three armed residents were killed and about 10 others from both sides were wounded in the clashes that erupted in the afternoon," the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

During the clashes, a battalion of the Central Security Forces and the Republican Guard's 26th Mechanized Brigade in al-Bayda province, where Radda was located, some 130 km southeast of Sanaa, advanced to Radda and forced the militants away.

"The government forces re-seized all entrances and checkpoints and positioned on the outskirts of Radda, meeting no resistance from the terrorist fighters who fled to neighborhoods in the town center," the official said, adding "We are waiting for orders to raid the town."

Radda, a town of nearly 60,000 people, fell last week into the hands of some 1,000 militants of the regional wing of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) led by Tariq al-Dhahab.

Al-Dhahab is a relative of Yemeni-born U.S. cleric Anwar al- Awlaki. He hosted Awlaki for months before the radical cleric was killed by a U.S. unmanned drone last September, according to a source close to the AQAP.

Radda was the latest town to be taken over by the AQAP. The government forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the militants over past months, leaving hundreds of people killed.

Posted in: Al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, Anwar al-Awlaki, AQAP, Radda, SANAA, Yemen