Eight die in attack on Yemen army base

Suicide raid on Zinjubar camp foiled but Yemeni soldiers and suspected Al Qaeda fighters killed in subsequent firefight

ADEN // Eight Yemeni soldiers were killed and several others injured in the southern city of Zinjubar yesterday when militants launched an attack on their military camp.

A journalist based in Zinjubar told The National that members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( Aqap) carried out the assault, which began when a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives close to the gates of Najda Camp.

“After the explosion, Al Qaeda fighters tried to storm the military camp but the forces confronted them and killed some,” said the journalist, who did not want to be named for fear of being targeted by Aqap.

“Finally, after about half an hour of clashes, the remaining Al Qaeda fighters took the bodies of the killed militants and fled the area.”

He said some of the soldiers were killed by the explosion while others died in the fighting.

Security officials said the suicide bomber, who was disguised as a driver carrying firewood for cooking, failed to get inside the camp after soldiers stopped him. So he blew himself up at the gates instead.

Aqap did not claim responsibility for the attack, but the group is the only force currently fighting pro- government troops in Abyan province, the journalist said. Shiite Houthi rebels battling the Yemeni government took control of parts of the province in April 2015 but these were recaptured four months later by loyalist forces.

A local official said Aqap was suspected of being behind yesterday’s attack. Aqap has taken advantage of a more than two-year-long war between pro-government forces, backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, and the Houthis to entrench its presence in areas of the south.

The militants now have a presence throughout Abyan province, said the journalist. Earlier this month they captured the districts of Lawdar and Shoqra from pro- government forces and also control other areas, including the Al Maraqesha Mountains.

They are routinely seen on the streets of Zinjubar, the provincial capital, the journalist said, despite the fact that the city is under government control.

Al Qaeda’s presence in Abyan predates the war between the government and Houthis, however. In 2011 the group captured Zinjubar district and the neighbouring district of Ja’ar.

The Yemeni government was unable to recapture those areas until residents formed a popular resistance force and pushed the militants out the following year.

Farther north yesterday, in the central province of Bayda, fighting between pro-government tribes and Houthi rebels broke out, an official said.

Twenty rebels and six tribal fighters were killed in fighting near the district of Walad Rabi, the source said, adding that the clashes flared when the Houthis tried to take control of a tribal territory.

Nine other rebels died when tribal fighters ambushed their convoy in the Sawmaa region, another area of tension between rebels and local tribes, the official said.

With additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters