Yemen troops, Saudi-led coalition attack Al Qaida militants in south

SANAA / AP

Hundreds of Yemeni troops loyal to the internationally recognized president have launched an operation to drive Al Qaida and IS fighters out of southern coastal areas the extremists have seized amid the country’s complex civil war, security officials said on Sunday.
They said the forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi are receiving air support from the Saudi-led and US-backed coalition, which until now has mainly targeted Shiite Houthi rebels. The aircraft struck targets in Mukalla, an Al Qaida stronghold and the capital of Hadramawt province, they said.
The deployment, which began a day earlier, is the latest operation against Al Qaida in Yemen’s south. Troops loyal to Hadi also advanced on Saturday in the town of Koud in the southern Abyan province, the province’s governor said, killing 25 militants from the group in heavy clashes. The coalition has also carried out airstrikes against Al Qaida positions in the area.
The troops had been preparing for the offensive for months with the coalition’s support, the officials said, adding that heavy fighting continued with Al Qaida gunmen in Abyan, near the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar. Residents say Al Qaida fighters are holing up in buildings and digging trenches to defend their positions from the advancing troops, and the security officials say the extremists have also laid mines.
There were no official casualty figures from the weekend’s fighting, but medical officials and witnesses said ambulances were transporting wounded and killed Al Qaida fighters in the area. Hadramawt residents said Apache helicopters and F-16 warplanes were sighted over coastal areas including Mukalla, and had struck several targets, including port facilities.
Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen, viewed by Washington as the group’s most dangerous offshoot, has exploited the conflict between the rebels and government forces to expand its footprint.