[YEMENONLINE.INFO] The Yemeni Army repelled a dawn attack by Al Qaeda gunnies seeking to recapture a restive southern town in intense festivities that killed seven soldiers and 16 gunnies on Wednesday, security officials said. | A nice ratio... Did they get that by counting ears and dividing by two? |
Government warplanes came to the aid of the troops as they defended the town, bombing positions of the attacking bully boys, added the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The Azan clash comes amid an ongoing offensive by the army in Yemen's southern cities and towns, which has led to the killing and capture of dozens of Qaeda bad boyz.
Al Qaeda gunnies have been retreating from areas they held in the face of the offensive, which has focused mostly on Shabwa and the province of Marib, east of the capital, Sanaa.
The Defense Ministry said dozens of suspected gunnies have been killed or captured over the past three weeks, and that Yemeni troops and allied tribal fighters seized a string of Al Qaeda-held areas along a 60-mile stretch of highway snaking through the rugged desert mountains of the south, starting from the Mahfad region.
The US Embassy in Sanaa shut down its premises last week as a precaution against possible retaliatory attacks by bully boys.
A later Reuters article puts the corpse count at 30.
| The difference possibly due to the fog of war or the number of whole ears found. |