Asia

Home page

Asia

Al-Qaida gives Yemeni army deadline to retreat from Zinjibar outskirts

01 March 2012 00:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Yemen-based al-Qaida wing on Wednesday gave the Yemeni government 10 days to retreat its army forces from the outskirts of Zinjibar, the capital of southern province Abyan, which has been occupied by the militants since May last year, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Anu Hamza Jalal Bil’Eady, the Emir of Ansar al-Sharia ( Partisans of Islamic Law Sharia) in Abyan on Wednesday gave the Yemen government a 10-day deadline to retreat its armored army brigades from the outskirts of Zinjibar, otherwise, we will carry out the Flowing River Plan of launching a full-scale offensive against the government forces," the resurgent terrorist group said in a statement obtained by Xinhua.

Ansar al-Sharia is the local name branded by the Yemen-based al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The AQAP’s threats came a day after a local army official told Xinhua that the government gave al-Qaida militants seven days to quit captured towns of Zinjibar and Jaar in Abyan, which the militants seized in May 2011 and triggered 10 months of continued fighting that forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.

"If they did not do what we ask, the army forces will take actions against the terrorist group members either by launching large-scale attacks or more intensified air strikes," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Since January 2011, when protests erupted against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, militants of the AQAP have been working to bolster their presence in Yemen’s remote regions.

The group has taken control of swathes of areas and towns across the restive southern provinces, as the Yemeni government engaged in fierce clashes with the militants over the past several months, leaving hundreds of people killed.

The AQAP, entrenching itself mainly in Yemen’s southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, is on the terrorist list of the United States.

Newly-elected President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi vowed to strengthen security and intelligence cooperation with the United States in combating the AQAP that threatened the daily oil shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.