Al-Qaeda ambushes Yemeni soldiers in Hadramaut

Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants on Tuesday evening (July 25th) ambushed and killed three off-duty soldiers from Hadramaut's Adh Dhliaah security directorate near a military checkpoint in Setan, a local official told Al-Mashareq.

The attackers opened fire on the soldiers using machine guns.

"The soldiers who were killed were not on a military mission," Adh Dhliaah district director Thabet Bamsdos told Al-Mashareq.

"They were wearing civilian clothes" and riding in a pickup truck, he said.

"This shows that al-Qaeda elements have been monitoring their movements and launched their attack when the soldiers were not carrying any weapons," he said.

Bamsdos urged Hadramaut governor Maj. Gen. Faraj al-Bahsani to deploy the Hadramaut elite forces in the district, as they have played a major role in cracking down on al-Qaeda in the coastal districts of the province.

"The capabilities and numbers of security forces in the district are limited, and this has been a factor in the appearance of al-Qaeda terrorists, who launch attacks from time to time and from one area to another," he said.

"We receive reports about the movements of some al-Qaeda terrorists in some areas in our district, which include rough terrain and mountainous areas," he said. "The fact that there are no army forces here has given the terrorists better freedom of movement."

The Hadramaut elite forces, backed by the Arab coalition, liberated the provincial capital of al-Mukalla and surrounding areas in April 2016 after the area had been under al-Qaeda control for one year.

The elite forces have achieved several victories against al-Qaeda in Hadramaut's coastal districts, seizing weapon caches, busting al-Qaeda cells, and improving security conditions.

The province's coastal districts have generally enjoyed better security than the Hadramaut Valley districts.