Yemen govt forces push Al-Qaeda back in Aden

ADEN, March 30: Loyalist forces pushed Al-Qaeda out of parts of Aden on Wednesday in a new drive against the militants in Yemen’s second city where the internationally recognised government is based, military sources said.
Troops and militia retook the central prison and deployed on main roads across the Mansura residentialdistrict after a three-hour gunbattle with the militants, the sources said.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
The Sunni extremists of Al-Qaeda have exploited conflict between the government and Shia rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 to expand their control in the south.
A Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi when he fled intoexile in March last year, concentrated its firepower on pushing the rebels and their allies out of Aden and neighbouring southern provinces, and the militants took advantage.
But in recent days, the coalition has carried out a series of air strikes against Al-Qaeda in cities it has seized including Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla and Abyan provincial capital Zinjibar.
Five militants were killed and three wounded in Monday strikes on Mukalla, a major port city that the militants seized last April, provincial officials told AFP.
Zinjibar residents told AFP that Al-Qaeda fighters were evacuating public buildings in the city on Tuesday in apparent fear of new strikes.- AFP