Al Qaeda militants seize southern Yemeni town

ADEN // Dozens of Al Qaeda militants reclaimed the town of Azzan in Yemen’s Shabwa province, residents said on Monday, exploiting a security vacuum in the country’s south as the war rages.

Azzan is a major commercial hub of about 70,000 people in an arid and mountainous region and was controlled by Al Qaeda for around a year until the group was forced out in 2012 by an alliance of tribesmen and armed residents loyal to Yemen’s since ousted central government.

“Dozens of Al Qaeda gunmen arrived in the early hours of the morning and set up checkpoints at the entrances to the town and in its streets. They planted their black flag on government buildings,” one resident who declined to be named said by telephone.

“They faced no resistance or clashes,” the resident said, adding that tribal militia forces quit the area as it was being taken over.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has expanded during Yemen’s civil war, which triggered a military intervention by the Saudi-led coalition last March, and also controls the major port of Mukalla in a neighbouring province.

* Reuters