Aden: At least four militiamen allied to Yemini military were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle outside an army barracks in southern Yemen.
The attack was possibly carried out by militants, linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), aimed at stopping an army advance toward a town held by al-Qaeda militants.
Government troops are making their way toward the coastal town of Shaqra, one of a string of areas in southern Yemen where al-Qaida militants took control over the past year.
In recent week, the government has launched an intensified offensive by troops and allied tribal fighters trying to retake the region.
The suicide bomber in a vehicle drove toward an army barracks in the town of Umsurra, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Shaqra. Troops opened fire on the vehicle, and the driver detonated his explosives, killing himself and four tribal fighters, the Defense Ministry said.
“Another suicide bomber blew himself up near an army checkpoint in the same town, killing only himself,” the military said in a statement.
It also said that four suspected al-Qaida fighters were arrested in the same area, one of them suspected of being linked to the first suicide attack, the ministry said.
Al-Qaida has increasingly used suicide bombers and car bombs to try to stop the military offensive in the south, which escalated started May 12.
Military officials said that if the military regained control over Shaqra, it will be able to cut supplies to militants in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, from al-Qaida strongholds further east.
Zinjibar and the neaby town of Jaar have been held for over a year by militants who took advantage of Yemen’s political turmoil to seize broad swaths of the south. But Yemen’s army claims it has retaken most of Zinjibar in the recent fighting.
Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was behind the failed Christmas 2009 attempt to bomb an American airliner as well as a foiled attempt the following year to mail package bombs to the United States.
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