SANA'A: A tribal source in Yemen southern province of Abyan said that 3 Swedish national joined lately Ansar al-Sharia fighters to fight along with them against Yemeni authorities. The source reported that the three Swedish entered legally to Yemen as tourists, and then they joined the militants in fighting the Yemeni government. They arrived in Abyan province on Monday and they are now in al-Motheleth district of Jaar city, where fierce clashes took place between Yemeni government troops backed by tribesmen and al-Qaeda militants. Yemeni authorities always announced the arrested of foreign personnel fighting along with al-Qaeda most of these fighters came to Yemen from Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iraq and so on; and sometimes from Pakistan or Afghanistan. It is seldom Yemeni authorities capture people from the West. Last week, Yemeni authorities in southern province of Hadhramout arrested at least 39 al-Qaeda militants, all of them are foreigners. ”The militants fled from Abyan province to Al-Mukalla city after fierce clashes took place in Abyan forcing them to leave their hideouts,” a resident said. According to security sources, the detainees, who were arrested in al-Mukalla by the Yemeni authorities, were intending to flee to Saudi Arabia. In March Yemen and the US carried out airstrikes against AQAP hideouts in Abyan and Al-Baidha provinces, killing and wounding scores of civilians alongside alleged terrorists militants. Yemen Interior Ministry said in a statement that 2 Pakistanis, 2 Saudi nationals, 1 Syrian and 1 Iraqi were among the dead in the raid. Many of these foreign fighters traveled to countries like Yemen for terrorism training. AQAP opened a training camp in the district of Mudiyah in the southern province of Abyan. The camp highlights Yemen's value to al Qaeda in waging its global terror campaign. According to residents in Abyan province, that camp sheltered more than 800 local and foreign fighters. Yemenis, Saudis, and Somalis make up the vast majority of the fighters
