SANA'A: US drones raided several hideouts of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda wing in the southeast restive province of Al-Baydha on Friday night. At least 25 AQAP militants were killed, including senior figures, with several other militants being wounded in an air strike conducted by the United States forces according to local website news. Sources told Bikyamasr.com that Sana'a had decided to strike the terror group with all its military might as it was dangerously expanding its hold over the southern provinces of Yemen. Over the past couple of weeks, the group acquired heavy weaponry which it managed to seize when storming a military encampment in the province of Abyan, raising the US concerns over the group's ability to push back Yemen's armed forces assaults. Moreover recent news that al-Shaba'a, the Ethiopian al-Qaeda wing had sent hundreds of Jihadists over to Abyan to join in Ansar al-Sharia, has been the cause of great concerns for both the government and the civilian population, as they feel their land could become the ground of a mighty war. The US which continues to enter Yemen's airspace to carry out its drones attacks on alleged al-Qaeda's positions, despite widespread popular disapproval is said to have resumed its “military co-operation” with the country's military as “trainers” arrived in Sana'a to oversee all counter-terrorism activities. And if some political figures of the opposition often criticized former President Ali Abdullah Saleh for giving too much leeway to the Americans in Yemen, they are now allowing an unprecedented level of interventionism within the territory as al-Qaeda threat is increasing exponentially. The United States has scored major success in previous strikes, including the killing of Awlaki, who was described by US officials as “chief of external operations” for Al-Qaeda in Yemen. In December 2011, a U.S. drone attack killed Abdulrahman al-Wuhayshi, a relative of AQAP leader Nasser Al-Wuhayshi. Wuhayshi was once Osama bin Laden's personal aide in Afghanistan. Two months earlier, two teenage relatives of Awlaki were among 24 people killed in an air strike in southern Yemen, sparking anger within the tribal community. Two days ago Yemen Interior Ministry said in its website that at least 1000 of AQAP operatives were deployed in many cities within the Al-Baydha province to carry out attacks against Yemeni targets, warning against surprise attacks. Moreover the Yemen Interior Ministry wrote in its website that Yemen forces in the Abyan province arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda militant. The Ministry stated that Mohammed Ali Al-Raess, 28, from Zinjabar had been arrested in Mothelath al-Saleh city, in the Abyan province. Also, two Al-Qaeda militants were killed in the Modea district of the Abyan province when an explosive belt detonated. Security sources said that Moneef Hadi Harron Al-Hawi and Yasser Mohammed Salem Al-Hawi were killed immediately when their explosive-packed belt blew up as they were headed towards their targets. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ISn0p Tags: 25, Drone, featured, Kill, strikes, Yemen Section: International, Latest News, Yemen
