Following local reports earlier this week that al-Qaeda militants had returned to the southern province of Abyan, as part of the terror fall-back tactic against the on-going government's crackdown on its militants nationwide, military officials confirmed that the armed forces thwarted an al-Qaeda attack against a police center in the city of Jaar this Thursday.
"The armed forces managed to foil a potentially devastating attack on the police center in Abyan's town of Jaar and captured two al-Qaida terrorists with hand grenades," a local military official told the press on condition of anonymity.
"Police and intelligence officers in the center were the target of the botched attack," he added.
While al-Qaeda failed this time to hit its target, the fact that Jaar has once again been identified by militants as its primary target in the province had officials worried. Back in 2011, when a power vacuum permitted Islamist extremists to seize large swathes of lands in Yemen's restive southern region, Jaar and Zinjibar were turned into terror hubs.
President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi had to coordinate a large scale military operation to return Jaar and Zinjibar back to the government's fold and force al-Qaeda to retreat back into the mountains.
With Yemen more determined than ever to rid itself from all terror elements as to restore peace and stability to the region, Sana'a is, with the support of the United States looking to biff up its counter-terror apparatus by acquiring state of the art technology such as drones, an advantage it hopes will tip the odds in is favor.