Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) overran three towns in southern Yemen on Thursday (February 2nd), withdrawing from two of them on Friday, AFP reported.
Al-Qaeda entered the Abyan province towns of Loder, Shaqra and Ahwar on Thursday but later withdrew from Loder and Shaqra after protests by residents, a local government official said.
"Residents made clear during the protests that they were ready to take up arms if necessary," the official said.
A coalition-backed offensive last summer drove al-Qaeda fighters out of the main towns of the province, which has been an al-Qaeda stronghold.
The group's entry into the two towns on Thursday evening was helped by a pullout by government forces angry over the late payment of their wages, a security official said.
Yemeni forces say they have not been provided with the weapons and other equipment to confront the group's fighters, "who have been stepping up their armed attacks", the official said.
Al-Qaeda set up roadblocks around the towns and blew up two security service buildings.
Coalition aircraft carried out two strikes on extremist positions in Loder overnight, the official said.
The forces of Yemeni legitimacy and the brave popular Yemeni resistance forces, supported by the great Arab Alliance, are inside the stronghold of al-Houthi in Saada. The coasts of northern Yemen are being cleared of the remnants of al-Houthi and the ousted. The gunmen of the pro-Iran gangs are terrorists like al-Qaeda and ISIL and must be liquidated as soon as possible. The Russian Federation, Putin, the Sultanate of Oman and Qaboos must understand this.
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The karma for these bloods will eventually hold the perpetrator accountable. Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!
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The end of the gangs of al-Houthi, of the the ousted, al-Qaeda and ISIL in the free Arab south has drawn near. The Iranian militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are criminal and evil and are not different from al-Qaeda and ISIL. What we need is to unify efforts to take them all out. The ousted al-Sanhani Affash is using the billions which he has stolen from the state treasury over 33 years in mobilising the gunmen of al-Qaeda and the pro-Iran al-Houthi to launch terrorist operations in the Arab south governorates.
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