Police sources in the southern restive province of Lahj confirmed on Monday that at least 10 soldiers were killed earlier in the day when armed militants believed to be affiliated to the Southern Movement attacked a military outpost, in al Habylan area, 20 kilometres away from the province entrance.
Militants assaulted the armed forces armed with machine guns and launch-rockets. Far from being a simple case of hit and run, militants aimed to lay waste the outpost and seize control of that particular area, right on the outskirt of Lahj where they could control all comings and goings.
While al-Harak, (Southern Secessionist) has denied having ordered its militants to rise against Sana’a central government authorities across Yemen southern provinces, the Defence Ministry is adamant, Haraki operatives stand behind Monday’s attack.
"The army forces swiftly launched a large-scale manhunt against the secessionist attackers and arrested one of them," said Xinhua reported an army source as saying. "Two military vehicles were destroyed during the attack. The identities of the gunmen remained unclear," the source added.
Tensions in Lahj have reached an all-time high following Friday’s unwarranted shelling of a funeral tent where mourners, mainly civilians came to pay homage to a fallen fellow-southerner.
A member of al-Harak in Aden explained under cover of anonymity that far from being the case of soldiers going rogue, Friday’s tank attack aimed to eliminate a prominent Haraki leader. As it happens, the leader in question was only slightly harmed, unlike the 15 poor souls who lost their lives and the dozens who were injured, among whom many children.