Al-Qaeda kills 32 Yemeni troops after leader eliminated in air raid
Baku, May 7 (AZERTAC). Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen killed at least 32 soldiers in attacks on two army posts in southern Yemen on Monday, a day after a wanted top militant died in an air raid, a military official said.
Jihadists attacked the military posts outside the city of Zinjibar, which they have controlled since May last year, said the official.
The military official told Reuters gunmen attacked Yemeni troops outside the city of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, killing at least 32 servicemen. He said they captured a number of soldiers and made off with weapons and ammunition.
At least 40 soldiers were wounded in the attack, the official and medical sources said.
In a similar attack in March, militants killed about 100 troops in Zinjibar after Hadi took office.
The attacks came after Yemeni al-Qaeda leader Fahd al-Quso, who was wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, was killed in an air strike in eastern Yemen on Sunday.
Al-Qaeda, which has strongholds in southern and eastern Yemen, confirmed Quso`s slaying in an SMS text message sent to reporters that could not be immediately verified.
The October 2000 attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, in Yemen`s port of Aden killed 17 sailors and wounded 40 more.
Quso was killed when two missiles slammed near his home in Rafadh, east of Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa province, the tribal chief said, adding that two of the suspect`s body guards were also killed in the raid.
A U.S. government official welcomed the death of the “senior terrorist operative,” saying he had been actively planning attacks against the United States and Yemen.
Al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attack on the USS Cole, which was carried out when militants riding an explosives-laden skiff blew a 30-by-30-foot (10-by-10-meter) hole in the USS Cole.
The USS Cole was in the port of Aden for a routine fuel stop when it was attacked.
Quso belonged to the powerful al-Awlak tribe of U.S.-Yemeni cleric and terror suspect Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in September.
U.S. intelligence officials believed Awlaki was linked to a U.S. army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on December 25, 2009.
The United States has never formally acknowledged the use of drones against al-Qaeda in Yemen, and the Yemeni government continues to deny that such air strikes take place.
According to the Washington Post, U.S. drones are launched from a secret base in the Arabian Peninsula.
Saleh resigned this year, and the United States wants his successor to unify the armed forces and use them to fight al-Qaeda more robustly.
But the covert use of drones has angered the public in Yemen as it has in other countries such as Pakistan, where Washington uses unmanned aircraft to kill its enemies in secret.
The tactic is seen by many residents as a form of extra-judicial execution that also endangers people not directly targeted and risks boosting support for militants.
A Yemeni official said earlier on Sunday that two Belgian nationals of Arab descent could be deported after being detained last month on suspicion of involvement in militant activities.
Ebrahim Bali and Ezzeddine Tuhairi were detained on April 13 at Sana`a`s airport as they tried to enter the country, he said.
A Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the arrest and said Brussels was seeking consular access to them.
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