Yemen bombs own troops, 30 die
Source: Agencies |
October 3, 2011, Monday
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A GOVERNMENT warplane mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more, military and medical officials said yesterday.
The officials said the bombing, which took place on Saturday evening in southern Abyan province, targeted an abandoned school used as shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade. The school is located just east of Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, where militants linked to al-Qaida have been in control since May.
Heavy fighting has been raging in the area for days as part of the army's months-long campaign to seize back Zinjibar from the militants.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were unconfirmed reports that militants arrived at the school soon after the airstrike and killed an unspecified number of wounded troops.
The school is in the Bagdar area, along the frontline between Yemeni forces and militants. On Saturday, fighting in Zinjibar killed at least 28 soldiers and militants.
Protest movement
The 119th Brigade has rebelled against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to join the protest movement demanding his ouster. It is thought to have received significant support from the United States military to enable it to fight the militants in the south more efficiently.
The airstrike is likely to hurt the morale of Yemeni soldiers as they try to battle their way into Zinjibar and other areas in Abyan.
Forces loyal to Saleh have also been battling renegade troops from another army unit, the elite 1st Armored Division, that defected to the opposition in March, with the two sides exchanging shells and rockets across Sanaa, the capital, for weeks.
Yemen's crisis began in February, when protesters took to the streets to demand Saleh step down after 33 years in office.
The airstrike near Zinjibar came after a US drone strike in the al-Jawf province to the east of Sanaa on Friday killed three key figures of Yemen's al-Qaida branch.
The three were US-born cleric and al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki; Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American who produced the terror group's English-language Web magazine, Inspire; and Ibrahim al-Asiri, an al-Qaida's bomb-maker linked to Nigerian underwear bomber accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
The officials said the bombing, which took place on Saturday evening in southern Abyan province, targeted an abandoned school used as shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade. The school is located just east of Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, where militants linked to al-Qaida have been in control since May.
Heavy fighting has been raging in the area for days as part of the army's months-long campaign to seize back Zinjibar from the militants.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were unconfirmed reports that militants arrived at the school soon after the airstrike and killed an unspecified number of wounded troops.
The school is in the Bagdar area, along the frontline between Yemeni forces and militants. On Saturday, fighting in Zinjibar killed at least 28 soldiers and militants.
Protest movement
The 119th Brigade has rebelled against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to join the protest movement demanding his ouster. It is thought to have received significant support from the United States military to enable it to fight the militants in the south more efficiently.
The airstrike is likely to hurt the morale of Yemeni soldiers as they try to battle their way into Zinjibar and other areas in Abyan.
Forces loyal to Saleh have also been battling renegade troops from another army unit, the elite 1st Armored Division, that defected to the opposition in March, with the two sides exchanging shells and rockets across Sanaa, the capital, for weeks.
Yemen's crisis began in February, when protesters took to the streets to demand Saleh step down after 33 years in office.
The airstrike near Zinjibar came after a US drone strike in the al-Jawf province to the east of Sanaa on Friday killed three key figures of Yemen's al-Qaida branch.
The three were US-born cleric and al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki; Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American who produced the terror group's English-language Web magazine, Inspire; and Ibrahim al-Asiri, an al-Qaida's bomb-maker linked to Nigerian underwear bomber accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
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