[An Nahar] Yemeni forces have killed two foreign al-Qaeda gunnies -- a Saudi and a Dagestan...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus
republiccurrently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca...
i -- and captured two French citizens of Tunisian origin also belonging to the group, state media said Friday.
State news agency Saba, quoting a military source, named one of the jihadists as Timur al-Dagestani, and said he was an explosives expert from Russia's Dagestan.
The second death was reported on the website of the defense ministry, identifying the man as the "terrorist" Turki Abdelrahman of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, also known as Abu Wahib.
Both were killed in the southern Shabwa province, where the army has pressed an offensive against strongholds of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April 26, the reports said.
It was not clear when they were killed.
Saba said the suspected French jihadists were jugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
on Thursday as they were trying to flee the country from an airport that it did not identify.
Saba named them as Taha al-Issawi and Murad Abdullah Ebad. It said both were aged 32 and had fought in the ranks of al-Qaeda in the eastern province of Hadramawt.
AQAP -- formed out of a merger of the network's Yemeni and Saudi branches -- has denied President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's allegations that 70 percent of its fighters are foreigners.
But authorities have reported the deaths of several foreigners since launching the latest offensive was launched in Shabwa, as well as Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an
Islamic Emirateafter seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
and Baida provinces.
On Wednesday, the army said an Algerian, a Pak and a Saudi were among several foreigners killed, with authorities also speaking of Afghans, Somalis and Chechens.
They have also said several al-Qaeda local and foreign commanders are among the scores killed in nearly a fortnight.