Al Mukalla: An Al Qaida explosives expert was captured in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan during a raid on his house on Wednesday, local media and residents said on Thursday.
Media reports said that security forces stormed the house of Al Khedher Ahmad Hussain on Wednesday in Al Ain town and arrested him.
The man was identified as an experienced bomb maker who produced Al Qaida explosive devices used in attacks on government and military targets in the province.
A current string of raids on Al Qaida hideouts in the province of Abyan is part of an offensive in the province that started earlier this month.
The aim is to cleanse the province of Al Qaida and Daesh militants.
The troops, trained and armed by the UAE, have captured several Al Qaida and Daesh commanders and chased the militants to their safe haven in the Abyan’s rural areas.
Residents who talked to Gulf News on Wednesday said that government forces have brought back peace and stability to many regions that have long been beset with disorder.
Mohammad Ahmad, a local resistance fighter from a small village in Abyan’s Moudea district, said that checkpoints are everywhere in the province and Al Qaida militants who escaped from security services’ crackdown are hiding in unpeopled valleys in Abyan.
“Security is excellent nowadays. Security forces should stay here for good. We fear that Al Qaida might come back if they leave,” he said, adding that residents are now more responsive with security apparatus and alert them about militants when they spring up in their areas.
The Yemen-based Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the most dangerous branch of Al Qaida, has cashed in on power vacuum ensued from the war between the internationally-recognised government and Al Houthis.
When security institutes in South Yemen crumbled in the early days of the war, Al Qaida stepped in and seized control of most of key cities in Abyan, Shabwa, Lahej and Hadramout.
Backed by the UAE military experts and air support, government forces pushed them from their strongholds and squeezed them in the mountains.
Meanwhile, in the district of Nehim, just outside of Al Houthi-held Sana’a, government troops destroyed two armed vehicles carrying the Iran-backed Al Houthi militants during heavy clashes in the rugged areas. Abdullah Al Shandaqi, a spokesperson for government forces in Sana’a, said on Thursday that as many as eight Al Houthi militants were killed and several others were injured when government forces shelled their positions in Nehim.
