Yemeni security forces kill two Al-Qaida militants
The Yemeni security forces clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen at a military checkpoint in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Wednesday, killing two terrorists and detaining four others, a government official told Xinhua.
“The security personnel manning a military checkpoint in Wadi Hadramout intercepted an al-Qaida vehicle loaded with explosives and ammunition, triggering a short shootout that ended with killing two terrorists and four others detained,” the government official said on condition of anonymity.
He also confirmed that the security forces found and seized heavy weapons hidden inside the truck and two policemen were also injured in the firefight that lasted for one hour.
“The captured al-Qaida militants will be airlifted to the Yemeni capital Sanaa via military helicopter gunship and be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” a local intelligence officer told Xinhua over phone.
On Tuesday, a high-ranking security official said that army units of the 37th Armored Brigade shelled a number of suspected al- Qaida-held sites in the valley of Hadramout, without saying if there were any casualties.
Militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot have been blamed by the government for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the country’s southern regions.
The Yemeni military and security forces, with U.S. support, have recently intensified operations against suspected al-Qaida strongholds throughout the country, killing many non-Yemeni al- Qaida suspects, and prompting retaliation attacks by the al-Qaida.