Aden: Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) ON Friday announced that they had freed 27 soldiers captured in southern Yemen last month after they had “repented” and promised not to return to the army, media reported on Friday.
According to reports the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic Law), linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said that the soldiers had been captured in Al-Kud in Abyan province, where they have seized control of many localities in the past year.
“They were freed on Thursday in Azzan, in the neighbouring province of Shabwa, where they had been taken after their capture,” the statement added.
Earlier at the end of April, Al-Qaeda freed 73 soldiers taken prisoner when militants attacked an army post in the south and killed 185 others.
Elements of Al-Qaeda, who call themselves Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), already control large swathes of southern Yemen, notably the Abyan provincial capital of Zinjibar, which they seized in May last year.
Loder lies some 150 kilometres (95 miles) northeast of Zinjibar.
The militant group’s task has been made easier by the weakening of central power in Yemen because of the challenge to the regime of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, tribal rivalries and the ambitions of southern autonomists.
Since May 12, the army has been pressing a campaign in Abyan to retake the provincial capital, Zinjibar, and other localities now held by Al-Qaeda.
At least 371 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled from official statements. They comprise 271 Al-Qaeda fighters, 64 military personnel, 18 local militiamen and 18 civilians.
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