ADEN — Twenty-one separatist fighters and
six members of
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch were killed Tuesday as an attack by the
terrorists disrupted months of relative peace in the war-torn country,
government and security sources said.
اضافة اعلان
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attacked
positions held by the UAE-trained Security Belt group in Abyan province in
Yemen’s south, the sources told AFP.
The violence came just days after the terrorist
group released a video of a UN worker whom it abducted in the same province
more than six months ago.
About three hours of fighting “left 21 dead among
the (Security Belt), including an officer, and six among the Al-Qaeda
combatants”, a government official said on condition of anonymity. Two security
sources confirmed the death toll.
Yemen has been gripped by conflict since Iran-backed
Houthi rebels took control of the capital
Sanaa in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led
military intervention in support of the beleaguered government the following
year.
AQAP and militants loyal to Daesh have thrived in
the chaos.
The Security Belt, a powerful southern Yemen
separatist force, has played a decisive role in the fight against the terrorists,
forcing them to retreat from towns into rural areas.
The force is tasked with protecting southern Yemeni
regions which, with their access to the sea and the Horn of
Africa, are of
particular interest to the UAE.
The Security Belt said in a statement Tuesday that a
“broad military campaign was launched several days ago by southern forces to
fight terrorism in Abyan province”.
The violence comes as the Houthis and forces
supporting the ousted government observe a shaky ceasefire in the years-long
civil war.
Riven by divisions, the groups opposing the Houthis,
who originate from the north, include southern separatists who support the
re-establishment of South Yemen.
The country was divided into North and South Yemen
until reunification in 1990.
Kidnapped UN worker
Underlining Yemen’s parlous
security, on Saturday AQAP released a video showing a
UN worker who was
abducted more than six months ago, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
Five UN staff members were kidnapped in Abyan in
February while returning to the port city of Aden after a field mission, UN
spokesperson Eri Kaneko told AFP at the time.
In Saturday’s video message apparently recorded on
August 9, Akam Sofyol Anam, identified by SITE as a Bangladeshi, urges “the UN,
the international community, the humanitarian organizations, to please come
forward ... and meet the demands of my captors”, without outlining the demands.
Formed in a
merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen and Saudi branches, AQAP has carried out attacks on
both rebel and government targets in Yemen as well as foreigners.
It has been accused of plotting attacks beyond the
Middle East and its leaders have been targeted by a US drone war for more than
two decades, although the number of strikes has dropped off in recent years.
Yemen’s UN-brokered ceasefire has drastically
reduced fighting since the truce began in April, but outbreaks of violence
continue.
Last week, 10 Yemeni soldiers were killed in a
Houthi attack near Taez, the country’s third biggest city which has been
blockaded by the rebels since 2015.
The assault, which also left several soldiers
wounded, was aimed at cutting off a key route to the southwestern city of about
two million, the government said.
On Thursday, the Houthis held a military parade in
the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, drawing a rebuke from the UN.
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