US- trained counter-terrorism forces fight al-Qaeda in Abyan

About 200 soldiers of US-trained Yemeni forces were sent to fight Al-Qaeda militants in Lawdar of Abyan governorate, military sources affirmed.

Local sources told Al-Masdar Online that the newly-appointed governor of Abyan Jamal Al-Aqel has arrived in Lawdar along with the counter-terrorism forces and based in the building of the local authorities in Lawdar.

Military sources reiterated that the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had refused to send the US-trained counter-terrorism forces to fight Al-Qaeda amid allegations that those forces were used in repressing peaceful and protecting him.

Military sources said President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi had ordered to send forces to engage in street fight with al-Qaeda.

Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan, has been under the capture of Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Shariah militants (Supporters of the Islamic Law) since May, 2011.

The sources said that gun machines and artillery were used on Friday and tribal fighters could recapture some positions that were taken over by Al-Qaeda militants.

In the district of Modia that is neighboring to Lawdar, air-fighters launched two checkpoints of Ansar Al-Shariah, but no casualties were fallen, local sources affirmed.

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry stated that the leader of Ansar Al-Shariah Raid Al-Said has been killed on Zinjibar and that another leader inAbyan, Abdul-Raoof Naseeb, was arrested, pointing out that dozens of militants were killed.

Naseeb had escaped an American attack while he was with Abu Ali Al-Harithi who was killed by an American drone in Marib in 2002.

Sources close to Naseeb denied his arrest, but tribal sources affirmed that he and another Al-Qaeda leader, Jalal Al-Saidi, were arrested during recent clashes.

Ansar Al-Shariah said in a statement that the news of the arrest was groundless.