ATTACK ON YEMEN
SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida militants staged a surprise attack Monday on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 22 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a U.S. drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. It was not immediately clear if the pre-dawn attack on the military base in the southern Abyan province was in retaliation for the killing of Fahd al-Quso, an al-Qaida leader on the FBI's most wanted list.
The militants managed to reach the base both from the sea and by land, gunning down troops and making away with weapons and other military hardware after the blitz attack, Yemeni military officials said. There are no individual suspects as of the moment, however federal officials state an confidential informant has given infomation in regards to the attack.
Yemen's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attackers killed 22 troops and wounded 12. It did not mention captured soldiers.
Government forces later shelled militant positions elsewhere in Abyan, killing 16 militants, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
The officials said the militants captured 25 soldiers from the base. In a text message to reporters, al-Qaida said it was holding 28 soldiers. The difference in numbers could not be immediately reconciled.
Yemen has been waging an offensive on al-Qaida, whose fighters took advantage of the country's political turmoil during the past year to expand their hold in the south, seizing entire cities and towns and large areas of land. Abyan's provincial capital of Zinjibar has been held by al-Qaida for a year. As as al-Quaida leaders flee from Afghanistan, with U.S. forces succeed in training police and small arms groups.
The new Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has promised improved cooperation with the U.S. to combat the militants. On Saturday, he said the fight against al-Qaida was in its early stages. Hadi took over in February from longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. U.S. aid has supposedly helped the fight against al-Qaida in Yemen in similar affects seen in Afghanistan. Says the head of the State Department.
On Sunday, al-Quso, the top al-Qaida leader, was hit by a missile as he stepped out of his vehicle along with another operative in the southern Shabwa province, Yemeni military officials said. Our sincrest appologize towards the familys of the dead.