23 die in al-Qaida clashes in Yemen

Al-Qaida-linked militants staged a dawn attack on an army post in south Yemen today, setting off clashes which left 23 dead on both sides, Yemeni army officials said.

The attack demonstrates how al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has exploited the political and security turmoil following the country’s year-long uprising, managing to take control of large swathes of land in the south and staging increasingly bold attacks on the military.

The officials said the militants attacked an army position in the town of Lawder in Abyan province, where al-Qaida fighters are very active.

They said the dead included 18 militants and five soldiers, including a colonel. Three soldiers were wounded.

Members of armed popular anti-al Qaida committees joined the fighting alongside the soldiers. The committees are formed by civilians, mainly from anti-al-Qaida tribes, who oppose the terror group.

A member of one of the committees, Abdullah Amer, said the militants tried to enter Lawder at dawn.

Lawder is a strategic town north-east of Zinjibar in Abyan province where al-Qaida fighters still control some areas.

He said fierce fighting raged for hours before the militants were forced to retreat.

The officials said a nearby army brigade sent reinforcements to the army post in Lawder to back up the soldiers during the fire fight.

The officials said three militants were also killed in heavy government shelling of the town of Jaar, near Zinjibar, which is still under the militants’ control.

Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the movement’s most dangerous offshoots.

Al-Qaida and other militant groups have taken advantage of Yemen’s year-long political turmoil to try to expand their toehold in the country’s south and have captured several key cities and towns.

Yemen’s uprising, inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere, forced longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office in February.

His successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was later rubber-stamped as president in a nationwide vote and has vowed to fight al Qaida while restructuring the armed forces, in which Mr Saleh’s loyalists and family members still hold key posts.

Mr Hadi, in his attempt to shake up the military, fired key commanders and relatives of Mr Saleh, including the ex-president’s half-brother, air force commander Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar.

The air force commander initially defied the order and seized control of the airport in the capital of Sanaa on Saturday.

Mr al-Ahmar holed himself up in his office before abruptly leaving yesterday as the airport was reopened.