Aden: Yemeni government forces have captured around 250 “Al Qaida members” since they retook Al Mukalla, the largest city in the country’s southeast, last month, a top officer said on Friday.
“We have arrested around 250 members of Al Qaida, including some leaders, since our operations began,” General Faraj Salmin said.
Salmin commands the second military zone which includes Al Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt.
The port city was retaken from the jihadists on April 24.
“One of these chiefs, Mohammad Saleh Al Orabi who calls himself the emir of Shar, was detained on Thursday” in the area of the same name some 60 kilometres east of Al Mukalla, he added.
All of the arrests were made in Al Mukalla and its surroundings, the general said.
Al Qaida occupied the city for a year, and imposed strict Islamic law on residents.
Special forces from the UAE, a member of a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels across Yemen, played a major role in retaking Al Mukalla.
Last week, the United States said that “a very small number” of American soldiers were also involved in the operation.