Following a three-day stand-off against terror militants in the southern seaport city of Mukalla (south-eastern province of Hadhramawt) military officials confirmed that the armed forces had managed to completely regain control of the Mukalla military headquarters.

On Monday, Ansar al-Shariah militants, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in the region, stormed Mukalla military base by disguising themselves as Special Forces personnel. Upon entering the base, they immediately set out to seize control over the building by banking on the element of surprise.

Before Sana’a was able to dispatch reinforcement al-Qaeda operatives managed to take several soldiers prisoners and barricade themselves on the third floor of the military headquarters.

A statement from the defense ministry read on Thursday, “The armed forces have successfully completed the assault on the headquarters of the 2nd military region at Mukalla and have thoroughly cleansed it of terrorist elements … All terrorists who were in the building were annihilated.”

Officials so far have confirmed the death of 10 soldiers. The fate of the hostages has yet to be established.

Although Yemen managed to repel al-Qaeda’s advances in Mukalla, the ferocity of Monday’s attack and al-Qaeda’s determination to erode Yemen’s resolve has put the country’s fight against terror in a different perspective. For all of Washington’s military support and its drone campaign, Yemen remains at the mercy of sabotage, suicide-bombing attacks and insurgency.

Experts have already called for a review of Yemen’s counter terror-strategy by addressing the root of the ideology rather than focusing on destroying militants’ military capacity.