Al Mukalla: Thirty Al Qaida operatives were killed in heavy clashes with Yemeni government troops in a remote village in the province of Hadramout, the highest number of casualties in a single day for Al Qaida since April, a senior army commander said on Wednesday.
Major-General Faraj Salmeen Al Bahasni, the commander of Al Mukalla–based 2nd Military Region said in a statement that soldiers, backed by air cover from the Saudi-led coalition, raided an Al Qaida hideout on a farm in Al Maseni, a remote region west of the city of Mukalla, Hadramout’s capital, killing 30 and capturing a number of them. Al Bahasni’s statement was carried by the region’s official Facebook page.
Al Bahasni said four of his soldiers were killed and 12 injured in the 24-hour battle.
“This is the third consecutive successful [raid against Al Qaida] carried by [the] Hadramout Elite Forces,” the statement said.
Al Bahasni was the commander of the government forces that kicked Al Qaida out of Al Mukalla and other neighbouring areas in April. Al Qaida had held the territories for more than a year.
Hundreds of militants were killed in clashes in Hadramout while many others fled to other lawless regions within Yemen, according to government figures.
The latest assault on Al Qaida is another fatal blow to the militant group that tends to exploit the current war against Al Houthis to gain a toehold in liberated areas.
In April, coalition-trained forces seized major cities in south Yemen from Al Qaida militants, several months after recapturing them from Al Houthis.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi ordered a limited reshuffle in the government of Ahmad Bin Daghar and appointed new governors and army commanders.
Hadi named Mohammad Saeed Al Sa’adi Minister of Planning and International Cooperation while Mohammad Abdul Wahed Al Moetami was named Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Major-General Esmail Hassan Zahazoh was appointed commander of 7th Military Region while Judge Hamoud Al Hitar was appoined president of the Supreme Court.
In a separate development, the media centre of Yemen’s army on Tuesday said government forces had liberated two regions in the city of Taiz, in southern Yemen, from Al Houthi rebels after heavy clashes with Al Houthis and the ousted president forces. The state-run centre quoted Major-General Khalid Fadhel, the commander of the Taiz axis, as saying that the government troops had made advances in the Salo and Hayfan districts, south of Taiz.
In Sana’a, residents on Wednesday said warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition had carried out several sorties targeting Al Houthi military sites.
Other airstrikes occurred in the provinces of Marib, Jawf, Shabwa and Hajja.
In March last year, Saudi Arabia and a number of allied Arab countries launched heavy aerial bombardment on Yemen to help government forces fighting off Al Houthis.
