Detained soldiers train Al Qaeda operatives on looted heavy weapons

The new elected President vows to crush all terrorists 

By Nasser Arrabyee,05/03/2012

Al Qaeda is forcing detained soldiers to train its fighters  on modern tanks and artilleries  and other heavy weapons that it looted after attacking  troops positions yesterday in south Yemen, local sources  said on Monday.

About 60 soldiers were detained and taken to the Taliban-style Al Qaeda-declared Islamic Emirate of Jaar in the southern province of Abyan on Sunday morning. More than 110 soldiers were killed and more than 150 other injured when Al Qaeda operatives attacked camps and positions in Dawfas area, at the circumference of Zinjubar, the capital of Abyan. 

About 20 from Al Qaeda fighters were killed and dozens were injured, according to sources in Jaar.

"The detained  soldiers from Dawfas battles were seen today Monday in Jaar training Al Qaeda fighters on the looted tanks and artilleries," said the local sources.

Although American and Yemeni fighters jets tried to bomb the looted heavy weapons yesterday, they failed to destroy everything, said the sources.

The newly elected president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi vowed to crush all hideouts of the terrorists in Abyan and other places and no single terrorist can stay after that.

"The confrontation would continue with all force until the last terrorist is killed," said President Hadi in meeting he held Monday with American, British, and Saudi officials and diplomats.

The country's military  supreme committee held also a meeting with the 10 ambassadors who helped  Yemenis to get out of their  political crisis for discussing more serious confrontations with Al Qaeda which exploited the one-year unrest.

The families of the dead and injured soldiers demanded -in a statement sent to media on Monday- that the new elected  President Hadi should strike with  an iron fist on those who were responsible for the massacre of Dawfas.

The families demanded that the minister defense and minister of interior should resign and an investigation committee should be formed.

Meanwhile,  6 Al Qaeda suspects on board of car bomb were arrested early morning in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to security authorities. Earlier the week, an other car bomb was discovered and confiscated.  The authorities were looking for three car bombs that were made in Arhab area, about 30 km north of the capital, where Al Qaeda has historic activities. Arhab is the village of the extremist cleric Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who is accused by US and UN of being a global terrorist.

Last Wednesday February, 29, 2012, Al Qaeda threatened to attack places outside the battle field if the government troops did not withdraw from the circumference of Zinjubar within ten days.

" We, Ansar Shariah in the State of Abyan, would give the government an ultimatum of 10 days for withdrawing  all the troops from the circumference of Zinjubar, and compensate the displaced persons,"  said Abu Hamzah Jalal Beledi, Emir Ansar Shariah in the State  of Abyan, in a statement sent through SMS by an  assistant of his  called himself Abu Al Waleed.

" If the troops not withdrawn, we would attack outside the battle field, and we might have to implement the plan of the flooding river," said the top leader of Al Qaeda in Zinjubar.

Al Qaeda threat came only two days after  the command of the troop units around Zinjubar  gave an ultimatum  of one week to Al Qaeda operatives to leave the city of Zinjubar otherwise the troops will storm the city.

The threats of Al Qaeda to strike outside the battle field came also one day after security authorities said they had intelligence that three car bombs are somewhere  ready to implement suicide attacks against Yemeni government and Western interests in Yemen. 

The security authorities are searching for the three car bombs almost everywhere, the security sources said to official media.