Yemen army continues fight in north and is attacked in south

SANAA/ADEN, (Reuters) - Clashes in the north Yemen town of Omran continued on Sunday between the army and fighters from the Houthi movement after at least 104 people were killed on Saturday, while in the south six soldiers were shot dead by al Qaeda militants.

Yemen's government is struggling to regain stability in a country facing a deadly uprising in the north, a separatist movement in the south and a growing al Qaeda insurgency that has survived repeated assaults by the military.

Western and Gulf governments fear the spread of al Qaeda in Yemen and persistent fighting in the north could allow the militants room to plot attacks on international targets and in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

Three suspected al Qaeda fighters were killed when they attacked a Saudi frontier post on Friday, killing four border guards, and two others blew themselves up on Saturday after fleeing to a government building in the kingdom's south.

The conflict between the government and Houthis, who demand more rights for the Shi'ite Zaydi sect in the majority Sunni country, has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone leading to fears of further unrest.

The Houthis blame the end of a 12-day ceasefire across north Yemen on an advance in the al-Jouf Province northeast of the capital Sanaa by army units loyal to the Islah party, which has links to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood.

The government said the advance on the town of al-Safra had been prompted by the failure of Houthi fighters to vacate positions in compliance with the terms of the ceasefire.

On Saturday Yemen's air force bombed Houthi positions in Omran, northwest of Sanaa, in fighting that killed 34 soldiers and 70 Houthis, who call themselves Ansarullah or "followers of God", medical sources in the city said on Sunday.

The attack by al Qaeda militants in Wadi Dhayka in the Mahfad district of the southern Abyan Province in a separate incident on Sunday morning killed six soldiers and injured two, local security officials said.

The district had been declared free of militants in April after a costly military campaign to clear al Qaeda from its strongholds in Abyan and the neighbouring province of Shabwa.

‘Al-Qaeda’ gunmen kill six Yemen soldiers

AQAP is considered by Washington as the most dangerous affiliate of the jihadist network for its role in failed attacks against the U.S. (File photo: Reuters)

Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen ambushed and killed six soldiers on Sunday in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, a stronghold of the jihadists, a military official said.

"Gunmen belonging to al-Qaeda have ambushed an army vehicle" on a main road outside Mahfad, shooting dead all of the soldiers on board, the official said.

The assailants then took the soldiers' weapons and fled, the official added.

In late April, the Yemeni army launched a ground offensive against al-Qaeda in Abyan and nearby Shabwa province.

The operation aimed to expel the militants of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from smaller towns and villages in the two provinces that escaped a previous sweep in 2012.

AQAP is considered by Washington as the most dangerous affiliate of the jihadist network for its role in failed attacks against the United States.

Taking advantage of a collapse of central authority during a 2011 uprising that forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, AQAP seized swathes of south and east Yemen.

According to an AFP tally compiled from official and other sources, Yemeni security forces lost 374 personnel battling Al-Qaeda, northern rebels and southern separatists as well as in targeted assassinations during the first half of 2014. AL Arabiya

US Drones killed six Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen: officials

Drone raid kills 6 Qaeda suspects in Yemen: tribesmen

Sanaa (AFP) - A drone strike in eastern Yemen killed six Al-Qaeda suspects on Monday, tribal sources said, in the first such raid since the army launched an offensive against jihadists last month.

The pilotless aircraft targeted a vehicle carrying "Al-Qaeda members" near Al-Husun, a village in Marib province, one source told AFP.

The United States is the only country operating drones over Yemen, but US officials rarely acknowledge the covert drone programme.

Yemen's army launched a major offensive on April 29 against strongholds of #
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, in three provinces in the south and east.
It says it has inflicted heavy losses on the jihadists.

The offensive was preceded by a wave of US drone strikes that killed scores of suspected Al-Qaeda suspects last month in southern and central regions.

AQAP has been linked to a number of failed terror plots against the United States, and its leader Nasser al-Wuhayshi recently appeared in a rare video in which he vowed to attack Western "crusaders" wherever they are.

Al-Qaeda uses the term crusaders to refer to Western powers, especially those countries which have intervened militarily in Muslim countries, such as Britain, France and the #UnitedStates.
The jihadists took advantage of a 2011 uprising that forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power to seize large swathes of southern and eastern #Yemen.
The army recaptured several major towns in 2012 but has struggled to reassert control in rural areas, despite the backing of militiamen recruited among local tribes.
Source: AU News

Officials say Two Yemenis killed by US officers had links to Al Qaeda cell, report claims

Two #Yemenis who were fatally shot by U.S. officers outside a barber shop in that country's capital last month reportedly had ties to an #AlQaeda linked cell responsible for several recent attacks on foreigners.

Citing a #Yemeni official, The #NewYorkTimes reported late Saturday that the cell was part of a kidnapping ring that has been blamed for the killing of a Frenchman last week; the attempted assassination of a German diplomat last month; an attack on the central prison in Sanaa this past February, which resulted in the release of 19 inmates; and the kidnapping of a #Dutch couple last year.

The State Department said Saturday that the shooting on April 24 in an upscale neighborhood of Sanaa stemmed from a kidnapping attempt as well. Witnesses tell The Wall Street Journal that they saw a Western-looking man pull a gun from his belt and fatally shoot both Yemenis. An Interior Ministry spokesman told the Times that the would-be kidnappers were posing as police officers.
Citing unidentified #U.S. officials, The Times reported that the Americans were a #CIA officer and a lieutenant colonel with the elite Joint Special Operations Command who were visiting the barber shop in an upscale district in Yemen's capital. The officials also told the paper that the officers were simply getting a haircut at the time of the shooting.

The officers have left Yemen days after the incident, with the approval from the Yemeni government, according to The Times. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed that the officers have left Yemen but provided no other details.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa closed temporarily because of attacks on Westerners. A day before Tuesday's closure, gunmen opened fire on three French security guards working with the European Union mission in the Yemeni capital, killing one and wounding another.

The U.S. has waged a heavy campaign of drone strikes in Yemen against the group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This month the Yemeni government has been waging an offensive against the militant group, and violence around the country has been on an upswing.

On Friday, gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants ambushed the motorcade of Yemen's defense minister in the Mahfad region, officials said. The assassination attempt failed.
Later in the day, a security checkpoint near the presidential palace in Sanaa came under attack and at least two policemen died. A night earlier in Sanaa, two Al Qaeda militants from Marib province were killed in clashes with security men, the Interior Ministry said.
Source: Fox News