Yemen battles kill 16 Al Qaida militants; 6 troops

Yemeni government forces pounded Al Qaida fighters on Monday, killing at least 16, while six soldiers died in clashes with militants in the country's troubled south, military officials said.

In one attack, Yemeni warplanes struck an Al Qaida hideout about 70 km from the southern city of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, which the militants captured last year. The bombardment killed at least 10 militants, the officials said.

In Zinjibar itself, clashes between the two sides left six troops dead on Monday, according to the officials. The military, backed by heavy artillery, has recently pushed into Zinjibar and regained control over some parts of the city.

The army also fired missiles at a moving vehicle on the outskirts of another southern town, Lawder, killing six militants inside it, the officials said. The town was controlled by al-Qaida last year until its residents drove out the militants, who have since been trying to stage a comeback.

Monday's fighting came a day after government bombings of al-Qaida positions across the south killed at least 30 militants.

The attacks are part of the military's broader campaign against the militants who seized towns and territory across southern Yemen over the past year, taking advantage of a security vacuum linked to the country's political turmoil that pushed longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

The front lines are concentrated around Zinjibar and another Abyan town, Jaar, where Al Qaida has held sway since March 2011. If the military were to reclaim the two strongholds, it would deal a severe blow to the militants, leaving them scattered in remote mountain areas away from urban centers.

In Jaar, militants sought refuge from Sunday's intense bombardment, hunkering down inside government buildings in the town center. Warplanes dropped leaflets urging residents not to let the militants hide inside their homes.

A military official said one warplane on Monday missed its target in Jaar, accidentally shooting at civilians and wounding two children.

Also Monday, other Yemeni officials said an oil pipeline in Marib province was blown up about 160 km east of Sanaa. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason as the military officials, said they suspected al-Qaida militants were behind the attack.
Successive attacks on oil pipelines have led Yemen's state-run oil firm Safer to shut down production of nearly 50,000 barrels of crude a day.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.