Aden: Yemeni government forces captured Al Qaida’s main stronghold in the southern part of the country on Tuesday after insurgents blew up the local government compound there and fled, the Defence Ministry said.

The Yemeni Defence Ministry’s website quoted an official military source as saying that soldiers and allied tribal militias - known as ‘popular committees’ - had entered Al Mahfad, a town of about 30,000-40,000 inhabitants on the main road from Abyan to the eastern Al Mahra province.

“The source said Al Qaida elements blew up the government building in Al Mahfad,” the ministry cited the source as saying.

A local militia commander, Ameen Qassem, later told Reuters by telephone that the government forces had met stiff resistance from the militants in the fight for Al Mahfad.

“The army and the Popular Committee members have completed control of Al Mahfad and we are now in the centre of the district. Al Qaida elements have fled to the mountains, but we will keep going after them,” Qassem said.

Authorities have said dozens of militants of several nationalities have been killed during the latest offensive, now into its second week. The offensive follows a series of air strikes, including by US drones, against insurgent bastions, in which Yemen said some 65 fighters had been killed.

Ali Mansour, an eyewitness of the fighting at Al Mahfad, said he was relieved by the army’s arrival.

“The entrance of the Yemeni army to Al Mahfad ends a long period of suffering that the residents had been living through while Al Qaida militants were present in the area,” Mansour said by phone. “Their presence meant worry and fear,” he added.

Witnesses said the army had used heavy artillery to push into Al Mahfad and said security forces had set up checkpoints on the main road.

The Defence Ministry said in text messages that the army had captured seven suicide belts, 10 explosives devices and nearly 3,000 rounds of ammunition in Al Mahfad.

The fighting is still raging in Shabwa, the other front where the Yemeni army is tackling the insurgents, a local official said.

“We expect the main and decisive battles to be in the areas of Mayfa’a and Azzan,” the official said.

Last week a Yemeni official and tribal source confirmed the killing of the head of the AQAP cell in Al Mahfad, where Yemeni authorities said an air strike on April 20 had targeted the militants’ training camps.