29 al-Qaida insurgents killed in renewed fighting in Yemen
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E-mail Xinhua, April 11, 2012
A total of 29 al-Qaida insurgents were killed in a renewed fighting with Yemeni government troops in the southern province of Abyan on Wednesday, a military official said.
The fresh fighting broke out in the outskirts of Lauder town, about 150 km northeast of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, as government forces backed by tribesmen continued an offensive against the al-Qaida fighters for the third day, the local military official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The government forces, backed by armed tribesmen, advanced on several key positions held by the al-Qaida militants in Lauder district after fierce confrontations that left more than 29 insurgents killed," the official added.
A local resident said the clashes broke out in Yasuf mountainous areas, where the insurgents have their bases.
"It seems that we are going to leave our houses today. The fighting is too violent. Government soldiers are attacking the insurgents around the city with air raids," the local resident told Xinhua anonymously.
Meanwhile, mortar shells fired by the al-Qaida militants hit a vehicle of a prominent leader of the pro-government tribesmen, killing him along with three other tribal fighters, according to tribal sources.
"Mohammed Jabel, the leader of anti-al-Qaida militiamen in Lauder, along with three of his bodyguards, was killed in an attack by the terrorists," the sources said.
Earlier in the day, the Yemeni air forces bombed al-Qaida targets in the suburbs of Lauder town, killing at least 11 terrorists, a senior army officer said.
The country's defense ministry confirmed the air strikes in a brief statement posted on its website, saying that "a number of fake checkpoints set up by militants on a main road were completely destroyed during the pounding."
"Many foreign nationals from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Somalia were among the dead militants in Lauder town," the statement said, but it did not give details about the exact number of casualties.
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.
Hundreds of al-Qaida militants who took advantage of the conflicts in the country have seized several towns in Abyan and Shabwa provinces after severe 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 itself 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.
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