A source within the local authority in Abyan Governorate told Sputnik that support and backing forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council [seeking South Yemen’s secession] launched an attack on mountainous positions controlled by Al-Qaeda elements on the eastern outskirts of the Moudiya district, northeast of Zinjibar, the governorate’s capital. The source added that the attack resulted in the capture of the sites after clashes that led to the death of a soldier and the injury of five others, while there were casualties and injuries among Al-Qaeda ranks.
This attack follows the killing of two soldiers and the injury of five others in an Al-Qaeda ambush using an explosive device on a military patrol in Moudiya district on August 7th. Abyan Governorate has witnessed a series of Al-Qaeda attacks on military and security forces for over a year, the fiercest on August 16th last year, when 34 soldiers from the 3rd Brigade of Support and Backing were killed and injured in a suicide car bomb attack by Al-Qaeda on a barracks in Moudiya district, northeast of Abyan.
Since the Southern Transitional Council announced the launch of its “Arrows of the East” operation on August 22, 2022, to secure the coastal Abyan Governorate from Al-Qaeda elements, military and security forces in the governorate have been subjected to Al-Qaeda attacks that typically result in deaths and injuries.
The conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) over power in Yemen, which is entering its tenth year, has impacted efforts, with Al-Qaeda exploiting the country’s security situation to expand its influence. Since September 2014, Ansar Allah has controlled the majority of provinces in central and northern Yemen, including the capital, Sana’a, while an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations on March 26, 2015, in support of the Yemeni army to regain those areas from the group’s grip.
The ongoing war in Yemen, until late 2021, has claimed 377,000 lives and caused cumulative economic losses estimated at $126 billion, while 80% of the population, approximately 35 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to United Nations reports.
