Clashes between army troops, militants kill 8 in south Yemen
At least five government soldiers and three suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed in a fierce shootout between Yemen's army and a group of terrorists in the country’s southern port city of Aden.
"The clashes between the army and about 30 well-armed men took place in Mansoura district in Aden, near a pro-independence protest camp, leaving eight people killed," Colonel Khaled al-Gharbany, a military official, said on Thursday evening.
He added, "The clashes erupted as the militants attempted to take control over an army site located near the camp."
Al-Gharbany further noted that unidentified attackers are still besieging the military site, while army reinforcements have arrived at the scene.
The development comes a day after five soldiers lost their lives and several others sustained injuries, when a bomb explosion struck a military base in Yemen’s central province of al-Bayda.
Over the past months, al-Qaeda militants have frequently carried out attacks on Yemen’s security forces. The militants have been also engaged in battle with the Shia Ansarullah fighters.
The central government in Sana’a has so far failed in efforts to rid the country of the terrorist threat.
Ansarullah fighters, who played a major role in ousting Yemen’s former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have intervened to fill the vacuum and have driven al-Qaeda militants out of many areas in the country.
Ali al-Emad, an Ansarullah leader, recently said Saudi Arabia supports armed al-Qaeda extremists in order to control oil and service centers in the Yemeni provinces of Marib and Hadhramaut.
He added that Riyadh seeks to prevent changes in Yemen for fear of possible impact on the ongoing policies pertaining to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
MP/KA/SS
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