Yemeni forces backed by Apache helicopters from a Saudi-led coalition wrested the city of Houta from al Qaeda fighters after a gun battle on Friday morning, a local military official said.
ADEN: Yemeni forces backed by Apache helicopters from a
Saudi-led coalition wrested the city of Houta from al Qaeda fighters
after a gun battle on Friday morning, a local military official said.
Their recapture of Houta, the regional capital of Lahj
province which has been held by the militants since last summer, is one
of the embattled Yemeni government's most important inroads yet against
al Qaeda forces who have taken advantage of more than a year of war to
seize territory.
Government troops began their attack at daybreak and succeeded after
several hours of air strikes and heavy combat, the military official
told Reuters."The campaign to control Houta has been completed and it has been cleansed of al Qaeda and extremist elements," he said. Several people were killed and injured on both sides and 48 militants were captured, he added.
Saudi Arabia and its mostly Gulf Arab allies entered Yemen's civil war on March 26 last year in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government after it had been pushed into exile by the Iran-allied Houthi group.
Amid impoverished Yemen's security chaos, Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized the port city of Mukalla and extended
its area of control and influence about 600 km (370 miles) along Yemen's
southern coast towards the government seat at Aden.
A Reuters investigation this month revealed that the group
earns up to US$2 million every day by taxing imports of basic goods and
fuel.
Until the attack on Houta, AQAP has suffered few territorial losses
despite a stepped-up American campaign of air strikes and drone attacks
on its bases.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
- Reuters
Gulf-backed Yemeni forces seize city from al Qaeda - source
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