Yemen Violence: Clashes, Airstrikes Leave At Least 32 Dead

A Yemeni man walks towards a burnt out car at the site where a gas pipeline was blown up near Mayfaa southeast Yemen's Shabwa province on May 14, 2012. (-/AFP/GettyImages)

ADEN, Yemen, May 15 (Reuters) - At least 32 people, including 23 al Qaeda-linked militants were killed in Yemen, officials and residents said on Tuesday, as the government pressed ahead with a new U.S.-backed offensive against insurgents in the south of the country.

Washington has stepped up its drone attacks in Yemen since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February, and the Pentagon said last week it had recently resumed sending military trainers to the Arab state.

A growing Islamist insurgency in Yemen is of serious concern to the United States and oil exporter Saudi Arabia, who both fear that political infighting could give al Qaeda's regional wing a foothold near oil shipping routes through the Red Sea.

Residents and local officials said heavy fighting erupted overnight between the Yemeni army and militants in an area called al-Jabalain in the south of the country, as the army tried to advance on the militant-held city of Jaar.

The clashes continued until early on Tuesday, killing at least eight militants and one Yemeni soldier, they said, adding the army had captured two Somali Islamist fighters.

Separately, an airstrike by Yemeni warplanes killed six civilians by mistake in Jaar, a city in Abyan province and a stronghold of al Qaeda fighters, residents said. Another strike hit two suspected militant vehicles and killed its seven passengers, they added.

Near the southern town of Lawdar eight militants and two army-allied tribal fighters were killed in clashes at an area called Jebel Yasuf, 10 km (6 miles) from Lawdar, a tribal source said. The army and tribesman regained control of Jebel Yasuf, the source added.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Rania El Gamal)

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[blueswithafeeling]

08:41 AM on 05/15/2012

Fill those drones with pig fat, when the word gets out that our military is using bullets made with pig fat or blood, it won't be a month and they will give up their martyrdom quest for 72 virgins.

[den1953]

08:32 AM on 05/15/2012

Somehow many people would think the Chinese would have a role in this, they have no problem using or needing the oil from the Arab states but yet they lay back and use the United States as the worlds police force, but are more then happy to take advantage of the Arabian oil flow going to that country!

[blurredmolly]

08:36 AM on 05/15/2012

it's because we owe them money.

[bascombe]

08:11 AM on 05/15/2012

another war against brown people, just like the not sees. a made up enemy. if we were supposed to be avenging nine/eleven, then why are the 15 Saudis not included? why did we not invade Saudi Arabia. the cia tail wags the dog. Eisenhower warned us and smedley butler warned us.

[ponderingtoo]

08:08 AM on 05/15/2012

How to spin public perception of an issue brought to you by the unobjective media:

1. Yemen: those fighting the US backed dictator = "militants," "tribal fighters," and "Al-Quaida"

2. Syria: those fighting the US denounced dictator = "rebels" and "opposition"

Why bother delving any further into the underlying issues when reporting the news if the players have already been defined as good or bad by the govt.? Journalistic integrity perhaps.

[lqw]

07:35 AM on 05/15/2012

Another one of Obama's wars.

[bascombe]

08:12 AM on 05/15/2012

he does not get that no one wanted to vote for a better bush.

[den1953]

08:36 AM on 05/15/2012

If the al-Qaida wing seals off the oil supply lines could you imagine the impact on the worlds supply of oil and how far oil would shoot up in price, the fact that those nations that seek that oil to maintain there economies are more then willing without there help leave America use force to relieve the problem? Why isn't this being hashed out in the UN, where is Russia or China on this issue?

[Diamond Nips]

07:11 AM on 05/15/2012

Which war is this? I've lost count. Is this number 3 or 4? Drone wars count as wars.

[lqw]

07:35 AM on 05/15/2012

The Nobel Peace Prize winner loves his drones.

[den1953]

08:37 AM on 05/15/2012

You love low gas prices unless you are a conservative then you wish they would go through the roof so you can point fingers at the President while the rest of the country struggles to pay high gas prices!

[blurredmolly]

08:39 AM on 05/15/2012

yep, the lesson is don't mess with a Democrat.

[bascombe]

08:12 AM on 05/15/2012

6

[moremoneyfortherich]

06:42 AM on 05/15/2012

future historians will lump these deaths together as part of the WW2 mistake of relocating an unwanted population of people with an obsolete - antiquated - archaic belief in a fairy tale god

[C Karen Stopford]

07:36 AM on 05/15/2012

Supported by a rabid group of people in another, imperialist country with an equally archaic belief in their own fairy tale god who didn't get the job done the first time around, so he's coming back again.

[Moonajuanaa]

06:41 AM on 05/15/2012

If you need to drop a A-Bomb on Yemen to keep gas prices from increasing, it must be done. Hopefully President Obama is listening & ready.

[bascombe]

08:13 AM on 05/15/2012

what an i di 0t u r ?