Abyan urged to step up security amid IED attacks

Yemen's Interior Ministry has directed Abyan's security agencies to step up security readiness and preserve peace, stressing the need for a new deployment plan at checkpoints to secure all districts.

Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Ahmed Ali Massoud on Sunday (June 30th) held a meeting in Abyan to explore ways of implementing the new directives.

He called for putting together a new security plan for the province and lauded the efforts of Abyan governor Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr Hussein Salem in supporting and rehabilitating security agencies.

Massoud also praised the role of Abyan residents in supporting the security forces and in standing united with them in preserving security and stability.

Abyan police chief Col. Abu Mashaal al-Kazmi confirmed that security and military forces operate side by side to defend Abyan province and preserve its security.

"We shall put our own lives on the line, like we did during the battle to liberate Abyan of terrorism," he said during the meeting.

Militants continue to plague Abyan

The meeting came one day after the Rapid Intervention Forces Commander in al-Mahfad Saleh Salem al-Kazmi survived an assassination attempt involving an improvised explosive device (IED) targeting his convoy.

No material or human losses were sustained in the failed attempt, local media reported.

On June 20th, another IED planted in al-Mahfad targeted a Security Belt Forces patrol, killing one soldier and wounding another.

Al-Mahfad director-general Ahmed al-Rabie told Al-Mashareq that the district's improved security is occasionally disturbed by IEDs planted by terror elements who were previously defeated in Abyan province.

He called for providing security forces in al-Mahfad with the weapons and assets that were requested last week to enable them to counter imminent threats.

Abyan province remains "coveted by al-Qaeda which had controlled it more than once", Yemeni journalist Faisal Ahmed told Al-Mashareq.

"The Interior Ministry's directives for stepping up security readiness are aimed at countering any terrorist attempts by the group," he said.

"Al-Qaeda tries to launch retaliatory attacks against the security and army forces after the province was cleared of its elements and camps," he added.

Security will be enhanced by stepping up readiness and drawing up a better deployment plan for military checkpoints, Ahmed said, as well as through enhanced co-operation between all military units and the local residents.

Al-Qaeda controlled parts of Abyan province in 2011 and 2014 where it declared the towns of Jaar and Zinjibar as Islamic emirates.

The province was fully liberated in late 2016 when government forces, supported by Arab Coalition forces, intervened to oust al-Qaeda elements.