5 Yemeni troops killed in suspected Al-Qaeda attack

Five Yemeni soldiers were killed and three wounded Sunday when suspected Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint, an army source said.
The source said the gunmen managed to escape after the attack on the checkpoint in the northeast of Shabwa province, a southern stronghold of Yemen’s powerful Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Sunday’s attack is the latest in a string of suspected AQAP shootings targeting military checkpoints and outposts in Yemen.
AQAP, seen by the US as the global terror network’s most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa.
A US air raid on the province last month killed AQAP leader Abu Khattab Al-Awlaqi, according to the Pentagon.
The US has intensified its air attacks on suspected AQAP sites in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Yemen’s government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels for control of the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed in Yemen conflict, most of them civilians, since 2015.
The country has also been hit by a deadly cholera outbreak and is on the edge of famine.

Source: Arab News