Yemen army advances on al-Qaeda militants in Zinjubar, kills and wounds dozens

By Mohammed al-Kibsi

Yemeni army units Wednesday  advanced towards Zinjubar, the southern Abyan provincial capital which fell to insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda in late May, a military official said today.

Other military units backed by tanks and infantry troopers captured the town of al-Kawd, 5 kilometers from Zinjubar  and have been tracking down al-Qaeda insurgents that left their barracks and fled to other areas he said.

The military source affirmed that the troopers of the 31^st armor brigade, 39^th armor brigade, 201^st infantry mechanical brigade and 119^th infantry brigade launched a wide range offensive from different directions against the militants of al-Qaeda near Zinjubar city and could completely clear them out of al-Kawd town and out of their barracks and sites in the farms located on the outskirts of Zinjubar.

He added that the militants under heavy offensive could not take the corpses of their fellows and that the forces found so far 14 of the corpses that were scattered in the battle field.  The source also affirmed that great number of the militants were wounded.

He said that the forces could capture the governors’ resort, Al-Sayed resort, the building of the central prison of Zinjubar and some farms that the militants used to hide in and use as military barracks.

The source praised the cooperation of the citizens of Abyan province who took part in the offensive and in tracking down the militants.

The source added that the troopers of the 25^th mechanical brigade along with some tribal fighters have been resisting al-Qaeda in Zinjubar bravely.

In a telephone call with his father a trooper from the 25^th brigade said that al-Qaeda militants are facing a big defeat and that his fellows and him have took part in the offensive, affirming that dozens of the al-Qaeda militants were killed or wounded today and in the past few days.

The trooper who is stranded in his camp since last May expected to get rid of al-Qaeda insurgents by mid September and that he would be able to join his family by that time.

The 19 old trooper al-Ansi also told Yemen Observer that he was not scared from fighting al-Qaeda that are besieging the 25th brigade. “We are not totally besieged as tribesmen and other honorable citizens of Abyan have been supporting us. We also received enhancement and supply through the tribesmen and some more that were dropped by the US planes,” said al-Ansi.  

“Our morals are high and we believe we will defeat the extrimists,” said al-Ansi proudly.

His father who is an officer at the Yemeni army too said that he was proud of his son that engaged in the first real fight in his life ever.