Aden: The death toll of a weekend attack by
suspected al Qaeda gunmen on an army post in south Yemen has
risen to 12, including one civilian, the interior ministry
said today.
"Two charred corpses of soldiers were found" on the site
of the attack, in al-Rai neighbourhood, west of the town of
Jaar in the Abyan province, the ministry said on its website.
A security official had said yesterday that the death
toll had gone up to 10 after a wounded soldier succumbed to
his injuries.
Four assailants had targeted the army post with
rocket-propelled grenades after sunset as the soldiers were
having a meal breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast of the holy
Muslim month of Ramadan, an official had said on Saturday.
A soldier who survived the attack said that militants
chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and had come "from
the town of Loder to avenge the death of our brothers there."
The attack carried the fingerprints of al Qaeda, a
security official said.
Loder, also in Abyan, was over a week ago the scene to
deadly fighting between the army and alleged al Qaeda fighters
who had seized a great part of the town for a few days before
being chased out by government forces.
The fierce clashes killed at least 33 people, including
19 militants, according to an AFP tally based on official and
medical sources.
Sporadic gunfights were reported yesterday in Loder
between security forces and remaining militants, as tribal
mediation continued to secure their exit from Loder.
South Yemen, especially Abyan province, is feared to have
become a base for al-Qaeda militants to regroup under the
network`s local franchise, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
(AQAP).
The region, where many residents complain of
discrimination by the Sana`a government in the allocation of
resources, is also the site of frequent protests and periodic
unrest.
Bureau Report
