ADEN (Dispatches) – At last 27 militants supported by the Saudi-led coalition and Al-Qaeda terrorists were killed on Tuesday in an exchange of fire in southwestern Yemen’s Abyan province, a military source told Xinhua.
Intense clashes broke out in the coastal district of Ahwar after several well-armed Al-Qaeda gunmen attacked a security checkpoint held by the newly hired Security Belt forces, the local military source said on condition of anonymity.
In addition to the death toll, a number of Security Belt soldiers were also injured, the source said.
Hours after the attack, the local forces carried out a clearance operation to eliminate terrorists in the area, according to the source.
The number of terrorist attacks on the southern forces in Yemen began to rise after the newly-formed so-called Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) started to deploy forces in the oil-rich province of Shabwa and other neighboring areas.
Last month, the newly-recruited forces in Yemen launched an operation against Al-Qaeda in the turbulent province of Abyan.
The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) network is responsible for many high-profile attacks on the foreign backed militants in the country’s southern provinces.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been waging the war on Yemen since March 2015.
The invasion has been seeking to change Yemen’s ruling structure in favor of the impoverished country’s former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly rulers and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement. The coalition, however, has failed to meet any of its objectives.
The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In a latest development, the Yemeni defense minister says his country is fully prepared for an all-out war with the Saudi-led coalition, warning the invading countries that they would be bewildered by the advanced capabilities of the Yemeni armed forces if they continue the war.
Major General Mohammad al-Atifi made the remarks during a Monday meeting with Mahdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Yemeni media outlets reported.
“Yemen’s armed forces are ready either to respond to the Saudi-coalition violation of the [UN-brokered] truce or to get into a full-scale confrontation with the coalition to free every inch of the country’s soil,” al-Atifi said.