Qaeda militants leave Yemeni town

Yemeni authorities announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of Al-Qaeda linked armed militants who took over the city in south Yemen almost two weeks ago. "They have left the town," located 130 kilometres (85 miles) southeast of Sanaa, one tribal source said hours after a senior military official said there had been mediation to convince the extremists to withdraw. "Tribal mediation carried out by Sheikh Hashed Fadhl al-Qawsi succeeded, after three days of talks, to convince the armed Al-Qaeda men to leave Rada," a senior official had told AFP late on Tuesday.  Yemeni news agency Saba quoted the Military Affairs Committee for achieving security and stability saying that the armed groups pulled out of Rada on Tuesday, without revealing how the militants left. The committee stated that the situation in Rada is back to normal, and warned against any security breaches in the area. Al-Qaeda linked militants had swept into Rada on January 14 and overran it within hours, marking a significant advance by the extremists towards the capital. The takeover of Rada, 130 kilometers southeast of Sanaa, was the latest in a series of towns and cities -- until now deeper in the south and east -- to fall as Al-Qaeda takes advantage of a central government weakened by months of protests. The strong jihadist presence in Yemen made President Ali Abdullah Saleh a key ally in Washington's "war on terror" before the Arab spring sparked a wave of protests against his regime that he countered with deadly violence. A local dignitary, Ahmed Kalaz, confirmed the exit of Islamist fighters he described as close to Tarek Al-Dahab, the brother-in-law of the Yemeni-American militant, Anwar Al-Awlaqi, killed in a US air strike last September. "They've retreated to Al-Manasa," Dahab's native village some 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Rada, Kalaz said. Kalaz said tribal mediators had succeeded in convincing the militants to accept the release of 15 of their members held by the Yemeni authorities without trial in return for evacuating Rada. Among the prisoners to be set free is Nabil Al-Dahab, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Tarek. Some of the prisoners have already been released, one of the mediators said without giving further details. The rest would be released over the course of the day. A mediator said that the militants had also demanded the formation of a committee comprising town residents to replace Rada's corrupt officials.