‘140 dead’ in two weeks of Yemen clashes

[1]

At least 140 people have been killed in two weeks of clashes between Yemeni security forces and suspected Al Qaeda gunmen in the Southern city of Zinjibar, a military official said on Monday.

“At least 80 security officials including soldiers have been killed and more than 200 wounded in clashes with Al Qaeda militants since Zinjibar fell under the (Al Qaeda) network’s grip” in late May, said the military official.

“More than 60 Al Qaeda militants, among them local leaders, have also been killed and at least 90 others wounded.”

Gunmen seised control of much of Zinjibar in late May.

Security officials say the militants are Al Qaeda fighters but the political Opposition accuses the government of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh of inventing a jihadist threat to head off Western pressure on his 33-year rule.

According to military officials, Al Qaeda fighters have besieged the base of the Army’s 25th mechanised brigade in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province. Nearly 4,000 soldiers remain in the base.

Yemen is the home of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of the slain Osama bin Laden’s militant network. The group is blamed for anti-US plots including trying to blow up a US-bound airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.