Yemeni troops took control of Azzan Saturday (June 23rd), the last town in Yemen's Abyan province where al-Qaeda had established complete control, AFP reported.
Several hundred al-Qaeda fighters are believed to have fled to Azzan in the hours before the Yemeni army took control of Zinjibar and Jaar on June 12th, but these fighters handed control of Azzan to tribal mediators June 17th.
The mediators then transferred authority over the town to Yemeni troops.
Thirty-five people have been killed in Abyan during the past 10 days in explosions from landmines that al-Qaeda fighters planted before they fled the province.
Maj. Gen. Nasser al-Taheri, the new commander of the southern military region, vowed to continue the fight against al-Qaeda Friday.
He succeeds Gen. Salem Ali Qoton, who led the campaigns that enabled the army to liberate southern cities that al-Qaeda controlled. Qoton was killed by an al-Qaeda suicide bomber Monday.
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READER COMMENTS
عبدالرزاق
2012-6-25
Yemen has suffered a lot from terrorism and the remnants of terrorism. If the Yemeni government keeps acting in a disintegrated and disorganized way against terror, Yemen will turn into a quagmire of terrorism. It must carry out qualitative operations against terrorism in order to weaken it, because terrorism in Yemen is starting to strengthen to the extent that they are killing a lot of citizens. If Yemen remains in such a state of weakness and lack of control over the situation, it will be the scene for suicide attacks and bombings against Yemeni citizens, foreign tourists and journalists. It will totally lose control over the country if these things happen, and the government could not fulfill its role, because the people will not allow more problems to take place. The people will not keep on suffering from the Yemeni government, which does not carry out its complete responsibilities in maintaining the safety of Yemeni citizens and tourists in Yemen. So, the Yemeni government must pay attention to this matter, fight against terrorism and come up with plans to fight anyone who wants to harm the Yemeni citizen. It has to fulfill its duty towards the citizens as a government that is responsible for them. In this case, the Yemeni government will be in control of the region and protect its citizens from murder, kidnapping and involvement in terrorism.