Officials confirmed on Thursday that gunmen allegedly linked to al-Qaeda targeted earlier today a security outpost in the south-eastern province of Hadhramawt in what is believed to have been a revenge attack for April 20-21 broad air and ground military operation against the terror group.
Xinhua quoted a military official as saying on condition of anonymity this Thursday, “The police forces repelled the al-Qaeda attack which took place in Hadhramawt's city of Shibam, but two police personnel were killed in the exchange of fire with the attackers.”
Another source explained that al-Qaeda militants fired at least two rocket-propelled grenades at the checkpoint.
While such attacks are by definition difficult to pre-empt on as they are random and fast, local officials have made clear that all military and security personnel across the province are standing ready, determined to foil any terror plot al –Qaeda will attempt to wage.
While Yemen’s most recent terror crackdown has been violent and rather destructive, it nevertheless achieved the desire result by hampering al-Qaeda militants’ abilities to regroup. With an estimated 60 terror operatives dead, among whom several key leaders, al-Qaeda Yemen’s heyday might have come to a brutal end. Addressing reporters on Wednesday, President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi noted, “recent counter-terrorism operations targeted and killed over 60 Al Qaeda-linked militants, including a number of high value targets in Abyan and Shabwa provinces".
Security experts have noted that Thursday’s limited attack on Hadhramawt actually serves to confirm that al-Qaeda has been left reeling from this week attack on its leadership.
With security ramped up across Yemen southern territories, sources at the presidential palace have noted that the southern seaport of Aden has been put in high alert.