28 killed as Yemen troops clash with Qaeda

ADEN: Fierce clashes between Yemeni troops and al Qaeda terrorists in the southern province of Abyan have killed 28 people, two of them soldiers, military and local officials said on Monday. After hours of fighting, the army captured a munitions factory in the Abyan town of Jaar and found the bodies of 12 suspected al Qaeda fighters, a military official said. Al Qaeda had seized the army-owned factory in a previous round of fighting and it was bombed several times by government troops in their attempt to snuff out the terrorists. A helicopter raid on al Qaeda positions in Jaar, meanwhile, killed six terrorists, a local official said. In the nearby town of Shaqra, where many of the local al Qaeda leadership are believed to be hiding, clashes between troops and terrorists killed eight fighters, a military official said, adding that two soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded northwest of Jaar, while four others were wounded in the Shaqra clashes. Yemeni forces launched an all-out offensive on May 12, aimed at reclaiming towns and cities lost to al Qaeda during the past year, including Abyan’s capital Zinjibar. afp

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