Dubai: Yemeni government forces said on Tuesday they had thwarted a major Al-Qaeda assault in the country’s southern Abyan province, leaving nine people dead on both sides.
Brig. Nasr Atef Al-Machouchi, commander of the targeted brigade, said militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) launched a large-scale attack on the government complex, detonating two car bombs before attempting to storm the facility. Government troops quickly responded, killing five suicide bombers wearing explosive belts, while four soldiers also lost their lives in the clashes.
A medical source in Abyan confirmed the soldiers’ deaths and said 15 others were wounded. The internationally recognized Yemeni government has been based in Aden since being ousted from Sanaa by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2014.
Once considered the most dangerous branch of the militant network, AQAP emerged in 2009 from the merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi offshoots. Although once highly active, the group’s attacks have significantly declined in recent years amid Yemen’s prolonged conflict. According to an Abyan medical source, 15 more soldiers were injured in addition to the verified deaths of the soldiers. Since being driven out of Sanaa by Iran-backed Houthi militants in 2014, the internationally recognised Yemeni government has been headquartered in Aden.
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