Qaida Yemen Attacks Kill 56 Police, Troops as Fourth Bombing Attempt Foiled
Suspected al-Qaida militants killed at least 56 soldiers and policemen in three simultaneous attacks in southern Yemen on Friday, military sources and civilian officials said.
Two of the three attacks in Shabwa province, an al-Qaida stronghold, involved vehicle bombs, they said.
The deadliest single attack was at an army camp responsible for ensuring security at oilfields in the region, where 38 soldiers were killed, the sources added.
"Troops clashed with gunmen at the camp entrance, before a suicide attacker in a bomb-laden vehicle forced his way into the camp where his car exploded, killing 38 soldiers," said a government official in Ataq, capital of Shabwa.
Military sources confirmed the toll.
Simultaneously, "a suicide bomber in a car blew himself up before reaching his target -- an army checkpoint" in the nearby Al-Nushaima area, a military official said, adding that 10 soldiers were killed in that blast.
"Soldiers were captured" in Al-Nushaima as others fled, witnesses told Agence France Presse by phone.
Around 15 kilometers (9 miles) away, suspected al-Qaida gunmen targeted a special forces camp at Maifaa, also in Shabwa, killing eight police, military sources said.
The bloody dawn attacks in the province -- an al-Qaida stronghold -- were attributed by the military authorities to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) -- classified by the United States as the network's deadliest branch.
However, the defense ministry announced that forces foiled a fourth attempt to detonate a car bomb in the south.
Security forces "foiled on Friday a terrorist attack by intercepting a bomb-laden car that was targeting the Ain Ba'maabad region and Balhaf gas terminal (in Shabwa province), causing the vehicle to explode, killing the terrorists it was carrying," said a statement on the ministry's 26sep.net website.
Source: Agence France Presse
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