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Yemeni forces on Tuesday launched an operation to remove all al-Qaeda forces from the southern towns in the country, where air strikes have killed about 60 militants last week. Their offensive began a few hours before the Friends of Yemen meeting began in London, where the delivery of aid to poverty-stricken country is to be discussed. The al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the instability in the country to strengthen its presence in the south. During the operation, al-Qaeda suspects charged at an army convoy in the Shabwa province, resulting in clashes which killed five militants and four soldiers, a military officer said.
The militants reportedly seized the army vehicle, capturing the 15 soldiers inside and destroying three more military vehicles and wounding six other soldiers in the ambush. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula jihadists had established strongholds in rugged zones and towns in Shabwa and Abyan provinces after security forces chased them out of major cities in the Abyan province in 2012. United States and Yemeni drone strikes last week targeted the bases of the AQAP, considered by the US government as the most dangerous al-Qaeda affiliate, with links to many failed terror plots against the US.
Army troops supported by militiamen launched the attack to “purge” the Abyan towns of al-Mahfad and Ahwar, and the Shabwa towns of Azzan, al-Rawda, al-Saeed and al-Houta, a military official said, who added that the campaign won’t stop until all those areas are “purged” of al-Qaeda militants.
Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed travelled to the region to supervise the offensive. In Sanaa, President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi said that “security measures” were taken in the capital to overcome any reprisals by the AQAP. “Nearly 70 percent of al-Qaida members in Yemen are foreigners”, he said. Authorities found the bodies of “French, Dutch, German, Brazilian, and Arab” members of the al-Qaeda killed during military operations.