Al Qaida seizes south Yemen town on key highway

Aden: Al Qaida militants have taken control of a town in southern Yemen on a major road linking two provincial capitals, a local official and tribal chiefs said on Monday.

Militants swept unopposed into Azzan, in Shabwa province, before raising the Al Qaida flag over public buildings, the sources said.

“The state is absent and it is not surprising that this vacuum is filled by Al Qaida,” a local official told AFP.

Azzan lies on the highway between Shabwa province capital Ataq and the city of Mukalla, the capital of the vast desert Hadramout province overrun by the terrorists in April.

According to tribal chiefs, most of the fighters who seized Azzan come from the surrounding area.