ADEN: The army on Sunday killed 40 Al-Qaeda suspects, mainly foreigners, and wounded dozens of others on day six of a major offensive in southern Yemen, military officials said.
Most of the “terrorists” were killed in Shabwa province during the ongoing operation against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the defence ministry said in text messages sent to journalists.
“The majority of those killed or wounded are Saudis, Afghans, Somalis, Chechens and others,” the official Saba news agency quoted a military source as saying.
On Friday, soldiers backed by warplanes killed five suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the same province.
Residents there told AFP on Sunday of “exceptionally” heavy artillery fire and air raids targeting Al-Qaeda hideouts in the region.
Among the Al-Qaeda fatalities have been two foreign commanders — Abu Islam al-Shishani, who had Chechen links, and Abu Muslim al-Uzbeki, an AQAP leader in Abyan province who hailed from Uzbekistan.
The latest government campaign came after a wave of US drone and other air attacks last month on Al-Qaeda bases and training camps killed around 70 militants.
The jihadist group denounced the offensive as a “premeditated military escalation” that came after “the Yemeni defence minister visited Washington to receive the orders of his American masters”.
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