Yemen: Airstrikes kill 3 al-Qaeda militants and injure 7 between Abyan and Shabwa provinces
Yemeni airstrikes killed three al-Qaeda fighters and wounded seven in the country’s south, a Yemeni military official said Wednesday. The strikes by Yemen’s air force were part of an offensive against the militants.
The official said the raids targeted militants in the border between Abyan and Shabwa provinces.
Al-Qaeda militants took advantage of a year of internal turmoil in Yemen that eventually led to the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to overrun large areas of the south.
The new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has made a top priority of retaking al-Qaeda’s positions, and an offensive against them has had some success. Militants have taken refuge in mountainous areas after the Yemeni military drove them out of strongholds. Wednesday’s air strikes targeted their new hideouts.