Yemen forces find al-Qaeda explosives cache

A force from Yemen's 2nd Military District has discovered a cache of explosives and rockets that al-Qaeda had used while it was in control of the Hadramaut provincial capital of al-Mukalla in 2015, the district's media centre said.

"Forces from al-Rayan Brigade have found one of the most important caches that al-Qaeda terrorists were using for storing explosives, rockets and landmines," the media centre said in a statement.

Following the discovery, a specialised engineering unit from the 2nd Military District inspected the site and removed its contents, including landmines, explosives and rockets, the statement said.

"Al-Qaeda terrorists had chosen to locate their secret cache near a 2nd Military District camp to carry out their plans of killing and destruction," it said.

The operation is one of the 2nd Military District's many recent security achievements, district spokesman Hesham al-Jabri told Al-Mashareq.

These efforts are seeking to crack down on terrorism, clear Hadramaut of al-Qaeda elements and preserve security, stability and public peace, he said.

The contents of the cache included improvised explosive devices (IEDs) capable of causing significant harm, he said.

"Al-Qaeda elements had chosen an uninhabited area near a military site to store their tools of terrorism, killing and destruction," he said.

'A security success in Hadramaut Coast'

Al-Jabri praised the security vigilance and intelligence efforts that helped the 2nd Military District locate and destroy the cache.

He described the operation as "a security success in Hadramaut Coast that will prevent those terrorists from reusing such tools to undermine security and stability".

The army "is determined to continue to combat terrorism and crack down on its elements so as to proceed with reconstruction and development", he said.

Hadramaut province embarked on a process of reconstruction after al-Qaeda was ousted from the area in April 2016.

Since then, the 2nd Military District has thwarted many terrorist plots, including the smuggling of weapons, and have arrested wanted elements.