ADEN - Yemeni troops battled Islamist militants in overnight clashes and air strikes that continued into Saturday, local officials and residents said, as part of a a US-backed drive to retake territory held by insurgents. The Yemeni army is trying to recapture towns in the southern province of Abyan that were seized by al Qaeda-linked militants last year during a popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who formally stepped down in February. The month-old offensive has cut off supplies of food and medicine and forced thousands to flee their homes, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday. Washington, which helped engineer Saleh's replacement by his deputy in February, is backing the offensive and has stepped up its campaign of drone strike assassinations of alleged al Qaeda members it says plot attacks from Yemen. A local official and residents said at least 10 militants were killed in heavy fighting east of Jaar, in the southern province of Abyan, which continued until Saturday morning. Three soldiers also were killed. Yemeni warplanes struck areas held by insurgents inside and near Jaar, residents said, adding that the number of casualties was not immediately known. Western and Gulf Arab countries have watched with mounting alarm as political crisis in Yemen gave al Qaeda-linked militants the opportunity to develop a base from which to launch attacks around the world. The United States and Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, have come to regard Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, as the network's most dangerous wing. Concerned about the humanitarian and security crisis in Yemen, Gulf Arab states and the West pledged more than $4 billion in aid to the impoverished state last month. About 40 percent of Yemenis live on less than $2 a day. Aid agencies said in May that almost half of them lack enough to eat.
