* FBI chief vows to help crush insurgency
* President Hadi says committed to working with U.S.
* One of Yemen’s top al Qaeda men killed in air strike
* Saleh’s half-brother leaves air force command
(Adds clashes with militants in south)
SANAA, April 24 (Reuters) – FBI director Robert Mueller
visited Yemen on Tuesday, pledging to help quell an Islamist
insurgency, as security and government sources said a drone had
killed a prominent al Qaeda leader linked to an attack on a
French oil tanker.
In a meeting with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took
office earlier this year, Mueller promised the United States
would support Yemen “with full force” in all respects.
“Mueller visits Yemen on an annual basis so this is not a
special or secret occasion,” said Mohammed Al-Basha, Yemen’s
embassy spokesman in Washington. “President Hadi emphasised that
he is strongly committed to combatting extremism and working
with the U.S. to counter the mutual threat of terrorism.”
Yemen’s embassy in Washington said on Tuesday that Mohammed
Saeed al-Umda, convicted in 2005 of involvement in the 2002
attack on the Limburg oil tanker, had been killed in an air
strike on his convoy in the oil-producing province of Maarib on
Sunday. It did not specify whether it was a U.S. strike.
Umda, described by the embassy as Yemen’s fourth most-wanted
man, had received military training under Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan and was in charge of the group’s finances, a
security source said.
The United States has repeatedly used drones to target
suspected al Qaeda militants, who have been emboldened by a year
of political upheaval in the impoverished state.
Exploiting mass protests against former president Ali
Abdullah Saleh’s 33 years in office, militants linked to al
Qaeda last year seized large swathes of territory in southern
Yemen, including at least two towns.
Yemen’s army, which split into two factions during the
uprising that eventually unseated Saleh, has been battling to
get the upper hand against the militants.
On Tuesday, the Defence Ministry put the number of militants
killed in the southern Abyan province in the past two days at
52. It said the army had seized some government offices from
militants as they pushed deep inside the provincial capital of
Zinjibar.
In a statement, Ansar al-Sharia, an al Qaeda-affiliated
group, said its fighters had blocked the army’s advance and
challenged the authorities to issue “just one recent photograph
showing troops inside the city (Zinjibar)”.
The statement did not refer to the drone attack.
Tribal sources in Abyan said up to 21 militants were killed
in three separate clashes with pro-government tribesmen on
Tuesday. Two tribal fighters died in the fighting, they said.
SALEH HALF-BROTHER STEPS ASIDE
President Hadi is trying to reform the army but has run up
against the vested interests of Saleh’s relatives and allies
still in charge of the military and security establishment.
In a modest victory for Hadi, Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, a
half-brother of Saleh, left his post as air force commander on
Tuesday. Earlier this month, he shut down the capital’s airport
and grounded all flights to protest against his removal in a
direct challenge to Hadi’s authority.
“The handover has taken place as stated in the decree issued
by the president,” U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar told reporters in
Sanaa. “It was a smooth handover with no conditions whatsoever.”
It was the first time Hadi had succeeded in removing one of
Saleh’s relatives from power. Saleh’s son, nephew and other
allies remain in place as heads of military units.
Benomar, who helped push through the plan under which Saleh
left office after more than a year of popular unrest, persuaded
the former president to lean on his half-brother to step aside,
a government official said on condition of anonymity.
General Rashed Ali Nasser al-Jund becomes head of the air
force. Ahmar was appointed an assistant to the defence minister.
Hadi, who had been Saleh’s vice-president, was elected
unopposed in February under a U.S.-backed transition plan
brokered by Yemen’s wealthy Gulf neighbours, anxious to halt a
slide into chaos.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, a local security source
said the head of political security in southern Lahej province
had survived an assassination attempt that had left him with
severe injuries. The source said a bomb had been attached to his
car and exploded when he started the engine.
(Reporting by Tom Finn and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa, and
Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Isabel Coles and Firouz
sedarat; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
