Aden: At least four Yemeni soldiers were killed on Tuesday by a roadside bombing on the eastern outskirts of the southern port city Aden, a security official said.
The roadside bomb exploded early Tuesday, hitting a military patrol near the al-Alam checkpoint on the eastern outskirts of Aden, killing at least four soldiers, the local security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The military patrol was near the security checkpoint of al-Alam that monitors the major highway connecting Aden to the city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, the security official said.
Just a few hours after the bombing, army forces blocked the main road linking Zinjibar to Aden, he added.
On Monday evening, at least seven members of the Yemen-based al- Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone strike bombed their pick- up truck in the southeastern province of Hadramout, a security official told Xinhua.
Hundreds of militants from the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, locally known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), are attempting to expand their foothold and take control over the county''s southern regions where central authority has almost no presence.
The Yemeni armed forces, backed by U.S.military advisers, have recently increased assaults against al-Qaida bastions in southern regions, as part of an offensive to uproot the terrorists from areas they overran during the one-year political turmoil in Yemen.
ANI
First Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 22:06