Al Mukalla: Yemeni government forces launched a fresh military campaign to purge Al Qaida militants from their hideouts in a remote village in the province of Hadramout, south east Yemen, on Tuesday.
The governor of Hadramout, Major-General Ahmad Bin Bourek, told local reporters in the city of Al Mukalla, Hadramout’s capital, on Tuesday that a large number of UAE-trained soldiers, locally known as Hadramout Elite Forces, backed by air support from the Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday morning assaulted Al Qaida hideouts in a small village in the rugged Al Mouhamden valley, west of Al Mukalla.
The governor refused to give more details until the raid comes to an end, but local sources said that heavy clashes broke out when the attacking forces stormed Al Qaida militants in the area. Hundreds of Al Qaida militants fled their former strongholds in April in the wake of a massive attack by the coalition supported government forces.
Al Qaida held the city of Al Mukalla and several coastal areas in Hadramout for more than a year. Bin Bourek recently said that a number of senior Al Qaida militants were arrested in similar raids on hideouts outside Al Mukalla.
Despite Al Qaida- and Daesh-linked sporadic attacks on security gatherings in the city, security has improved significantly in Al Mukalla and other major cities.
Local activists who document Al Houthi attacks on the city of Taiz, southern Yemen, said on Monday that the rebel forces heavily shelled many residential areas in the city as government forces launched a fresh push to break Al Houthis siege on the eastern side of the city.
The activists said the Al Houthis’ “indiscriminate shelling” focused on the western suburbs. Two government loyalists and seven Al Houthis were killed in the clashes.
In August, government forces breached Al Houthis’ defences in the western suburbs of the city and took control of rebels’ checkpoint that blocked access to the city. Now, despite partially breaking Al Houthis’ siege, locals who live on the eastern, northern, and southern sides of the city are forced to climb dangerous slopes to reach their homes.
Government forces also battled Al Houthis and renegade army units loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the northern provinces of Jawf, Marib, Hajja and Shabwa. In the Al Houthi stronghold of Saada, government fought their way into the province, attempting to make major territorial gains.
