Two senior Al Qaeda operatives killed in Yemen
Coalition-backed forces killed two senior Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen in a raid in the southern province of Abyan on Wednesday, the SAUDI Government MEDIA OFICE SAID on Thursday.
OFICIALS say THE two ighters were killed in a shootout with security forces in a raid of their hideout in the district of Al Wadiah, Abyan province.
It described Murad Abdullah Mohammed Al Doubli, known as Abu Hamza Al Batani, and Hassan Basurie as among “the most dangerous leaders” of Yemen’s Al Qaeda branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The two men were killed in a clash with forces backed by the United Arab Emirates, said the statement issued late on Wednesday, citing security sources.
AQAP has taken advantage of the three-year war between the Iran-aligned Houthi group and President Abd-rabbu Mansour Hadi’s Saudi-backed government to strengthen its position in the impoverished Arab state.
There was no immediate statement Confirming THE DEATHS From AQAP, WHICH operates in several provinces in south and eastern Yemen, including in Abyan, Shabwa and Al Bayda.
‘ARREST ORDER’
Meanwhile, yemen’s interior minister on Thursday ordered the “immediate arrest” of an Aden-based colonel, citing allegations of rape against African detainees that occurred under his watch.
Interior Minister Ahmed Al Misri “directed the relevant security services to immediately arrest Colonel Khalid Al Alwani, the former director of the African refugee centre, and refer him for investigation over human rights violations and cases of rape against African migrants,” a statement on the ministry’s website said.
Alwani was suspended from his role overseeing the Buraika migrant detention centre in mid-march but continued to serve as a police chief for the Mualla district in the southern port of Aden.
The ministry said it had already pledged to carry out a full investigation and take legal action against those found guilty of abuses “regardless of whether they are members of the ministry.”
Human rights watch published a report on Wednesday saying Yemeni government employees had “tortured, raped, and executed” migrants and asylum seekers at the Buraika migrant detention facility in Aden. Migrants held at the facility — in use since early 2017 — were denied refugee protection and often deported en masse into rough seas, the watchdog said.