Air forces bomb al-Qaida sites in southern Yemen, 11 killed

Yemen division 20120311(wikipedia)

ADEN, Yemen, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni air forces bombed al-Qaida targets in the southern province of Abyan on Wednesday morning, killing at least 11 terrorists, a senior army officer said.

"We received reliable information that two air raids by the Yemeni air forces have been launched against the al-Qaida terrorists in the outskirts of Lauder town, about 150 km northeast of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, leaving at least 11 militants killed," the army officer in the region told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Checkpoints held by the al-Qaida insurgents were also targeted in the air strike, which destroyed two tanks the terrorists captured in the last battles, the officer said.

Witnesses told Xinhua anonymously that "warplanes flew in low altitude over the Ameen region in Lauder town before dropping bombs and rockets on the al-Qaida targets."

Local residents in the al-Qaida-controlled town of Jaar said that "we noticed a number of vehicles bringing up to 11 bodies back to the city for burial following the air raids and battles with army troops in neighboring Lauder town."

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch have not commented on the latest raids.

Meanwhile, a local tribal chief in Lauder said that "our town is besieged by terrorists and al-Qaida snipers are now firing at the pro-government tribesmen from surrounding mountain ranges for the third day."

"There is a lot of fighting outside the city right now between the troops and al-Qaida fighters," the tribal chief, who asked to remain anonymous, told Xinhua.

On Monday, al-Qaida militants attacked several barracks of the army forces in Lauder, sparking deadly clashes that left at least 60 soldiers and more than 54 terrorists killed, local government officials and tribal chiefs said.

Taking advantage of the one-year-long political conflicts in Yemen, the resurgent al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), locally known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), has taken control of several cities and swathes across the country's restive southern provinces.

Yemen's newly-elected President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has said fighting the AQAP tops his daily agenda.

Military experts fear that security situation in Yemen's southern and eastern provinces, home to the country's oil and gas stockpiles, may worsen as the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch expands its control over the chaos-ridden areas, despite the government's efforts to reunite the army to intensify battles against the AQAP.

Posted in: Abyan Governorate, ADEN, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qaida, alqaeda, AQAP, Lauder, Yemen