23 al-Qaida militants killed in Yemeni air strike, shelling

At least 23 al-Qaida militants were killed in Yemeni government forces' air raids and shelling on separated hideouts of the terrorist group in southern flashpoint Abyan province on Tuesday, a provincial security official said. "As many as 13 militants of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP) were confirmed killed when a Yemeni jet fighter fired on a group of the terrorists gathering at a cemetery in Jaar town to bury a number of their dead fellows who were killed in clashes with government forces during previous days," the official in charge of the intelligence operation room at the Central Security Camp in Abyan's neighboring province of Aden said. "Another ten militants were confirmed killed when troops of 201st Military Brigade shelled al-Qaida fighters in northeast part of Zinjibar city, the capital of Abyan," the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Earlier, a local army officer told Xinhua that the Yemeni military jet fighters carried out five air strikes in Abyan, leaving at least four terrorists killed and a number of others injured. The Sanaa government has intensified crackdown on the AQAP, which were known locally as "Supporters of Sharia (Islamic Law)" since May after the group captured Zinjibar, Jaar, and several other regions of Abyan. Zinjibar was reseized by the government troops in September, according to the defense ministry, but sporadic clashes repeatedly took place there as the terrorist group still occupied part of the city.