AQAP strikes soldiers in Yemen

Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and explosives, attackers drove from the surrounding desert on 15 pickup trucks into Sayoun, in the southern Hadramawt province, after detonating a car bomb at the entrance to the city. The overnight attack struck an army headquarters, the Central Bank building, the traffic police department, the post office and the agricultural bank. The death toll included at least 15 members of Yemen's security forces.

The regional website Al-Mukalla Al-Yawm reported that that dozens of injured had gone to local hospitals. News agencies quoted local officials as saying the attackers had also sustained losses but had taken many of their dead with them when they fled, making an accurate casualty count impossible, though one official estimate put the number at more than 10. Al-Mukalla Al-Yawm also reported that the attackers had worn the uniforms of the Yemeni army.

A US ally with a population of 25 million, Yemen has tried to end three years of political unrest that began when mass protests erupted in 2011 against Ali Abdullah Saleh, the autocratic president of 33 years, who ultimately stepped down. Apart from the fight against al Qaeda, Yemen‘s government faces independence demands by southern separatists and battles with rebels from the Shiite Muslim Houthi movement, which has tried to extend its control over the country's north.

The United States considers al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) the most active branch in the world, and has assisted Yemen's government in its offensive against the group with logistics, training and drone attacks, though usage of the unmanned aircraft by the US has proved controversial. AQAP has fought back, targeting government buildings and security forces. Yemen's defense minister escaped one such attack with his life earlier this month, but just days later, an aide of his #link17634714::was not as fortunate#.

Officials also blame AQAP for a number of unsuccessful bomb plots aimed at Americans, including a 2009 attempt to bring down a US-bound airliner with explosives hidden in a passenger‘s underwear and a second plot to send mail bombs hidden in the toner cartridges on planes headed to the United States.

mkg/dr (Reuters, AFP, AP)