Al Mukalla: UAE-backed Yemeni security services have arrested a number of Daesh and Al Qaida militants, raided their hideouts and uncovered a big stash of arms and ammunition in different areas in southern Yemen, local security officials said.
Building on recent gains in the battle against militant groups, security authorities in the port city of Aden have captured three Daesh cameramen who filmed attacks and a number of drive-by shootings against security personnel in the city.
Elite forces raided the militants’ hiding place in Aden and found several cameras, drones, tiny IEDs and explosive materials, Aden’s security chief said in a statement.
In the same hideout, the forces found a room where Daesh militants record themselves before carrying out suicide attacks.
Security services in Aden have beefed up raids against suspected Al Qaida and Daesh hideouts in the city after an alarming spate of hit and run shootings claimed the lives of security and military soldiers, clerics and activists.
The successful raids have led to the capture of many senior Daesh leaders who plotted a deadly attack on a counterterrorism forces base in Aden and killed a number of soldiers.
Al Qaida and Daesh sought to gain a foothold in Aden—Yemen’s second largest city and the current base of the internationally-recognised government—while Yemeni forces were busy fighting Al Houthis in 2015.
The UAE military has rebuilt security bodies from scratch, training and arming thousands of soldiers.
Meanwhile, in the southern province of Shabwa, UAE-backed Shabwani Elite Forces stormed a number of Al Qaida hideouts in Al Sayed district, two months after seizing control of Al Qaida’s major stronghold.
A local security officer told Gulf News by telephone that the elite forces found a cache of explosive materials, mortar shells, IEDs, explosive belts hidden in an underground depot in Al Sha’aba region in Al Sayed district.
“We are still looking for more arms left behind by Al Qaida militants who fled Al Sayed,” the security officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief reporters.
Shabwani Elite Forces, security units that were built by the UAE military officers at military camps in Hadramout and Shabwa, have scored major victories against Al Qaida militants by taking control a large amount of land in the province that has long deemed as Al Qaida’s safe havens. The forces have recently stationed in rugged areas in Al Sayed district where Al Qaida used to hide leaders and store arms.
