Yemeni troops kill 21 militants

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Yemeni troops kill 21 militants

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Yemeni troops killed 21 al-Qaida fighters as the army pushed on with an offensive in two provinces.

16 June,2012 09:56 pm

The fighting in Azan town in Shabwa province and the Hassan valley in neighboring Abyan follows a surprise government assault earlier this week that recaptured the al-Qaida base of Jaar after weeks of battles that raged back and forth.The military campaign, assisted by U.S. military advisers and bankrolled by neighboring Saudi Arabia, has left al-Qaidas dangerous Yemen branch on the run. The group remains in control of only a handful of towns, with hundreds of its members scattered in the mountains, valleys and vast desert of the Arab worlds most impoverished country.In the most recent clashes on Friday and Saturday, 17 militants died in fighting that raged until early morning in Azan.Six soldiers were wounded in those clashes, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.The officials said tribal chiefs asked the militants to leave the town, because otherwise the population would suffer from army shelling. Witnesses said they saw several trucks carrying al-Qaida fighters and their weapons leaving Azan for the mountains. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be involved in the conflicts.On Friday, Yemeni warplanes pounded militant hideouts in the mountains surrounding Azan, but the officials said casualty figures from those bombings were not available because of the ruggedness of the terrain.Four other militants and one soldier died in fighting Saturday in the Hassan valley area in the adjoining Abyan province, the officials also said. The valley is located east of the provincial capital of Zinjibar, which al-Qaida captured last year and held until this months offensive.