Yemen Al Qaeda Militants Killed In Fighting In Al-Hurur Region

SANAA, Yemen — Government troops backed by warplanes and heavy artillery pounded al-Qaida positions in southern Yemen on Sunday, killing at least 30 militants, officials said.

The army launched its assault on the al-Hurur region of Abyan province at dawn Sunday, pushing out al-Qaida-linked fighters who have controlled the area since taking it over last year. Abdullah Ahmed, who lives in the area, said the militants fled by foot after government soldiers destroyed nearly a dozen tanks and vehicles mounted with rocket launchers seized by the militants last year and kept in al-Hurur.

The attack was part of the Yemeni military's broader campaign against al-Qaida-linked fighters. The militants have seized towns and territory across southern Yemen over the past year, taking advantage of a security vacuum linked to the country's political turmoil that pushed longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

Saleh's successor and former deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, took office in February in a U.S.-backed power transfer deal. He has since ramped up the fight against al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, which the U.S. says is one of the group's most active.

The White House's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, met with Hadi on Sunday in the capital, Sanaa. Hadi's office said in a statement that the Yemeni leader briefed Brennan on the army's progress against al-Qaida in the south.

Brennan, who also met with the head of Yemen's military, reiterated Washington's strong commitment to Hadi's efforts to stabilize the country, and said the Yemeni leader is making "historical decisions during these critical times in modern day Yemen," according to a statement released by the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.

Driving the militants out of the area of al-Hurur positions the army just outside the city of Jaar, where al-Qaida has held sway since March 2011. If the military can reclaim Jaar, it will have surrounded the provincial capital of Zinjibar, which also is currently under the control of al-Qaida.

The military has claimed control in recent weeks of some of the outlying areas of Zinjibar, but militants remain firmly entrenched in the heart of the city.

The army also battled militants Sunday around Zinjibar and in the town of al-Code in fighting that left at least 12 government troops dead, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

The U.S. is particularly concerned about the activities of al-Qaida's Yemeni branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen was the launching pad for two foiled al-Qaida attacks on U.S. territory: the Christmas 2009 attempt to down an American airliner over Detroit with an underwear bomb and the sending of printer cartridges packed with explosives to Chicago-area synagogues in 2010.

Last week, The Associated Press disclosed that the CIA thwarted yet another plot by AQAP to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb which could have been undetectable by conventional airport scanners.

AQAP released a guide for would-be fighters written by U.S. national Samir Khan before his death in an American missile strike last year that also killed American-born Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida cleric.

The 16-page English-language guide, reported by SITE Intelligence Group on Sunday, advised potential fighters about how to remain physically and psychologically healthy during long operations, noting the "recent opening of Abyan" and saying the group is in a "state of expansion" there.

"It is not about just rushing to the enemy bases and attempting to take them over, but it is about what to do in the long run and how to build upon that," the guide says.

____

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed from Cairo.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[mmbcf]

12:47 PM on 05/14/2012

AMERICA, HECK YEA!

[mds308]

12:34 PM on 05/14/2012

RIP

Rest In Pieces

[smp276dp]

12:20 PM on 05/14/2012

So much for our President being weak on terrorist.
That is a card the teabaggers could no longer use.

[Garry Carlson]

12:16 PM on 05/14/2012

This is activism, meanwhile Pakistan stands by and pretends nothing is happening in their country!

[rocks4aliving]

10:42 AM on 05/14/2012

Thanks to Obama the war on al-Qaida continues to strong.... He will get them no matter where they are...

Obama 2012

[hunkindoo1]

11:20 AM on 05/14/2012

Obama has nothing to do witjh it. The military makes all decisions without him!

[badeal]

12:53 PM on 05/14/2012

EXACTLY!!

[john yunker]

10:39 AM on 05/14/2012

George Bush did nothing to get Bin Laden because of the bush family business ties with the Bin laden family through the Carlisle Group..Even though Osama was a despot and trouble maker, no father wants his son dead. Bush did nothing except direct OUR hard earned dollars to a war of revenge in Iraq, and give Halliburton a no bid contract to extract more of our nations resourses towards his own selfish goals, and those of Cheney and his cronies. Obama should get ALL the credit for what Bush was UNWILLING to do..

[Louie Rey]

10:13 AM on 05/14/2012

A total of 30 militants killed? I feel 2160 virgins coming on! Just wait until they find out that all of the virgins look like Rosie O'Donnell, on a BAD day. I think if they all knew that ahead of time they might have all converted to Judaism!

[jim9726]

09:24 AM on 05/14/2012

30 more good ones.

[Captsharky1]

09:11 AM on 05/14/2012

Excellent, excellent, now lets rid the Earth of the rest of them...

[My AMERICA is LOST]

09:27 AM on 05/14/2012

That would mean flying drones in this country to kill off all that are here waiting to strike.

[Mig15]

08:48 AM on 05/14/2012

Go after those who support AQ and kill them too.

[mrthhar]

08:39 AM on 05/14/2012

How are these Drone attacks that kill any different than waterboarding these criminals in order to get intel? No trial, just blowing them away. Yet these jerks get to make a mockery out of our judicial system and have admitted to their guilt. Then we are going after the Americans that got us this intel that led to Osama's death. Does not make sense to me.

[reste0123]

09:15 AM on 05/14/2012

True, but the differernce IS. GW could NOT get anyone even with waterboarding. He was way to busy with personal interests in Iraq. UBL can run but he can't hide???? Well he hid on GW and his band of Merry Men..Guess Halliburton profits were more important..

[archiehaditright]

10:00 AM on 05/14/2012

Keep spreading the nonsense and lies. Anyone with a brain knows that the water boarding absolutely led to intel that eventually got Bin Laden.

Thank God your type wasn't in charge.

[fishinmoretimes]

10:34 AM on 05/14/2012

IGNORANCE is bliss.
And I bet they let you vote for people like the "Community Organizer"!
God save this country, Please.

[madenusa]

10:38 AM on 05/14/2012

How was this a drone attack?

[jadada2]

08:38 AM on 05/14/2012

Lets kill all the terrorist when ever and where ever they are. It just makes me smile because where they're going soon enough there won't be enough virgins to go around. Just imagine the sight of that. When a new virgin enters their Garden of Eden, what a jihad awaits them.

[Stu gots]

08:34 AM on 05/14/2012

It's real simple . Trying to kill all Al Qaeda and Taliban Commanders and militants is like trying to kill every single cockroach in New York City . It's impossible . One could stomp and kill a few cockroaches - spray and kill a few more - but to eradicate ALL of them is impossible . Same goes with Al Queda - Taliban Leaders and Militants . I personally think it's a waste of time , money and lives . Why not beef up security right here at home . Get ALL the Troops out - give them JOBS bu having Military presence in ALL major US Airports with sub machine guns and German Shepherds by their side . Tell me that wouldn't be a deterrent . est to bring the security HERE - stop giving Karzai $ 2 BILLION a year for the next 10 years to help HIS security forces - and use that money to DEFEND ! Being on the offense against these cockroaches is futile and will never end - at least not in our lifetimes .

[Captsharky1]

09:15 AM on 05/14/2012

The Security here is already beefed up so much that we have lost many of the freedoms we used to enjoy. Sadly, the militants and terrorists are accomplishing exactly what they want.

[chinnha]

10:40 AM on 05/14/2012

I agree with you about security here getting out of hand, but people are always talking about "what they want," Its not to take away our "freedom" because they hate it, its for their militant islam ways to rule the world.

[wmarr16600]

09:44 AM on 05/14/2012

it wont work , it makse too much sense , and the need for graft and kick backs too small

[Stu gots]

08:18 AM on 05/14/2012

30 Al Qaeda Militants killed . The equivalent of 1 cockroach in New York City killed . I STILL believe our Troops are out in the Middle East - particularly in Afghanistan in severe harms way . I still think giving Pres. Karzai $ 2 Billion dollars a year for the next 10 years is an absolute waste of American money . I still believe that Obama lied to America and the Troops by promising their withdraw date would be July of 2011 . And signing yet another contract with Karzai assuring him the will be US Military presence in Afghsnistan until 2024 is an atrocity . 30 Al Qaeda Militants is like peeing in the ocean . Best bet is for Obama to get ALL US Troops out and beef up security right here at home . There's WAY too many terrorists in the Middle East to control !

[wstan101]

08:44 AM on 05/14/2012

Your right they are like cockroaches and vermin and need to be eradicated 1 to 50 at a whack. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and hope these lunatics forget about us and suddenly become peaceful., it ain't going to happen and the best defense is a strong offense. We have to continue to pursue and kill them where the are breeding which is in the middle east and africa instead of here in the states.

[JamesScott]

08:50 AM on 05/14/2012

Our purpose is not just the internal security of our own nation and its borders. It is also the security of allies in the Middle East, like the Saudi royal family, who continue to denominate their oil in dollars. If they were to be overthrown by Al Qaeda, the U.S. dollar would plummet in value and another 25 million Americans would lose their jobs overnight. We cannot and will not leave, and ironically, this is what Al Qaeda is waiting on -- for us to bankrupt ourselves by military expenditure, just as did the Soviet Union, so the regimes we support will then be more vulnerable to their revolution.

[Romano54]

08:11 AM on 05/14/2012

Yemeni government opposition are from this day forward refered to as "terrorists". How can we be sure we are not being played like an old fiddle? Is there verification as to the nature of the people that are being killed. This just looks awfully convenient.

[Mig15]

08:43 AM on 05/14/2012

Most everyone in the Middle East are either terrorists or willingly supporting them. Some are just worse than others.

[chinnha]

10:54 AM on 05/14/2012

Exactly, I've heard so much about the "peaceful" religion of Islam but the majority of peoples viewpoints over there comes from the same indoctrination, these people live in constant war anyway.