* Fifteen more Qaeda-linked rebels killed in army offensive
* Fears of Qaeda rise after US says foils bomb plot
ADEN, May 12 (Reuters) – An apparent U.S. drone attack
killed at least five al Qaeda-linked militants in south Yemen on
Saturday while Yemeni government forces killed 15 others in a
new offensive against insurgents, officials and residents said.
U.S. officials revealed earlier in the week that they had
thwarted a plot by the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) to arm a suicide bomber with a non-metallic
device, an upgraded version of the “underwear bomb” carried onto
an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. [ID:ID:nL1E8G9GZC]
AQAP, a regional branch of the militant network, has plotted
overseas attacks that have been prevented but raised major
concern for Washington, which is trying to wipe out suspected
AQAP operatives with drone and missile strikes.
An air strike believed to have been carried out by a U.S.
drone set a vehicle on fire, killing its passengers in the
southeastern province of Shabwa, a regional official told
Reuters. Residents said at least five militants had died.
It was the latest in a series of reported drone assaults on
militants in the south of the impoverished Arab country who
exploited mass protests last year against then-President Ali
Abdullah Saleh to seize large swathes of territory, including
Zinjibar, the capital of restive Abyan province.
Last week, the U.S. Defense Department said Washington had
resumed training of Yemeni armed forces to bolster the fight
against al Qaeda, following a suspension during the political
upheaval that ousted Saleh.
Residents said Yemeni air force planes dropped leaflets on
Saturday urging civilians to leave areas held by militants
targeted by the army offensive, prompting a mass exodus from
parts of Abyan.
Fifteen insurgents as well as six soldiers were killed in
fighting on Saturday, a military official who did not want to be
further identified told Reuters.
“A force of about 20,000 men is taking part in this
offensive, ordered by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to free
the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar,” he said. Navy units would also
be used in operations along Abyan’s coast on the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen’s fractured state and dysfunctional security apparatus
have provided al Qaeda’s regional wing with a suitable breeding
ground for bomb plots on U.S. and other Western targets.
But tribal leaders in parts of Yemen where drone attacks
aimed at AQAP have killed civilians say the air strikes are
turning more and more people against the government and the
United States.
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.
In March, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR warned
that Yemen was facing a new wave of internal displacement as
tens of thousands of civilians fled tribal clashes in the north
and fighting with militants in the south, in a country with
already about half a million displaced people.
Hadi, who had been Saleh’s vice-president, was elected
president unopposed in February under a U.S.-backed power
transition plan brokered by Yemen’s Gulf neighbours to end the
political turmoil.
Hadi, who has vowed to defeat al Qaeda and unify the army,
also faces challenges from Shi’ite Muslim rebels in the north
and tribal secessionists in the south.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Firouz Sedarat;
Editing by Mark Heinrich)
