Government troops kill three al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Up to three al-Qaida militants were killed and five others were injured in armed confrontations with government troops in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Friday evening, a security official told Xinhua.

The government troops engaged in armed clashes with a squad of al- Qaida militants in the mountainous area of Maraksha in Abyan province, killing up to three terrorists and injuring five others, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

"Before the armed clashes, a group of terrorists was planning to plant an improvised explosive device against a military patrol, but they failed," the security source said.

The al-Qaida terrorist group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than two years, has yet to make comments.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, known locally as Ansar al- Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), took advantage of a political upheaval in 2011 in Yemen to take over several towns of the southern restive regions.

The militants were targeted by Yemeni security authorities after a U.S.- backed offensive launched in the southern Abyan province months ago routed the militants out of their strongholds that they had controlled for nearly a year.

The Yemeni government along with the United states and oil-rich Saudi Arabia have beefed up anti-terror operation since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February 2012.