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The suicide bomber detonated his explosives among dozens of pro- government tribesmen in the Mudiyah town of Abyan province, killing himself along with a prominent tribal leader and injuring six others at the scene, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.
The tribesmen joined the fighting alongside army troops in an offensive against al-Qaida militants earlier this year, according to the military official.
"A suicide car bomber first approached a gathering of pro-army tribal fighters and then blew himself up among them," a local resident told Xinhua anonymously.
"Part of a nearby residential building that belonged to the dead tribesman, who was leading a group of anti-Qaida militiamen, was damaged after the huge blast," he added.
A medic at a local hospital confirmed to Xinhua that the facility had received a dead body of a tribal leader and six wounded people.
Witnesses said army soldiers cordoned off the area, preventing people from approaching the bombing scene.
The Yemeni government forces declared victory over the al-Qaida branch after a month-long offensive that succeeded in driving hundreds of terrorists from the territory they had controlled for about a year.
On June 20, Yemeni military officials announced seizing al- Qaida's last bastion in the country's troubled south following the army offensive backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia.
However, local military and anti-terrorism experts said the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch is still a major threat to the impoverished Arab country despite its being driven out of its main southern bastions by the U.S.-backed military assault. A string of assassinations and suicide bombings have struck Yemen' s southern regions over the past two months, showing that al-Qaida militants retain the capacity to strike.
from XINHUA
2012-08-19 15:27:33
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