Yemen: US gives help in new assault on al-Qaida

SANAA, Yemen - Yemeni warplanes and troops backed by heavy artillery waged a four-front assault on al-Qaida militants Tuesday, trying to uproot their hold in the south in an offensive Yemeni officials said was for the first time being directly guided by American troops at a nearby airbase.

The central U.S. role in the operation would be a significant stepping up of American-Yemeni cooperation against al-Qaida's branch here, which is accused of a string of attempted attacks against the United States.

The offensive appeared to mark an increased determination to break the hold of al-Qaida in the south, where militants have controlled several towns for nearly a year, including the provincial capital of Zinjibar.

Fierce battles continued overnight and early morning Tuesday inside Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province.

Yemen's ill-equipped and poorly trained military has stumbled repeatedly in trying to fight al-Qaida ever since the militants seized territory during the political turmoil surrounding last year's uprising that led to the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. But since Saleh's resignation in February, his successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has vowed to make the fight against al-Qaida a top priority.

The effort is supported by the U.S., which considers al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen the network's most active. On Sunday, the White House's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, met with Hadi in the capital Sanaa.

Hadi's office later said the Yemeni leader briefed Brennan on the army's progress in the south, which Defense Mohammed Nasser Ahmed described as the "final decisive battle against al-Qaida."

Several Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that unlike previous, failed offensives against al-Qaida, this time the United States was providing direct logistical support to the Yemeni military.

The officials said an airbase called al-Annad in the southern province of Lahj is serving as a command center where nearly 60 U.S. troops are helping advise the Yemenis. They also said the Americans were providing information and logistical support to Yemeni troops.

The Yemeni military officials, who are familiar with the workings of the army in the south, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the highly sensitive cooperation. The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa could not be reached for comment.

On Sunday, al-Qaida fighters attempted an attack from the northern gate of al-Annad airbase, close to the troops' living quarters, but were repelled. One Yemeni officer was killed in the attack, the officials said, and the Yemeni military later deployed heavy troops to protect the airbase.

The Pentagon said a week ago that it had sent military trainers back to Yemen for "routine" counterterrorism cooperation with Yemeni security forces.

"We have begun to reintroduce small numbers of trainers into Yemen," a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, told reporters.

Another American official said the arriving troops are special operations forces, who work under more secretive arrangements than conventional U.S. troops and whose expertise includes training indigenous forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly.

The U.S. military training program in Yemen was suspended last year amid the revolt against Saleh. Under the former president, Washington had greatly expanded counterterrorism aid, at one point having between 100 and 150 trainers there.

The U.S. also has a substantial naval presence near Yemen. A Marine contingent aboard U.S. Navy ships arrived in the area over the weekend on a routine rotation. It includes the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, with about 2,000 Marines aboard vessels including the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima. Also in the group is the USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship that was built with more than seven tons of steel from the World Trade Center. It is the New York's maiden deployment.

Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was behind the failed Christmas 2009 attempt to bomb an American airliner as well as a foiled attempt the following year to mail package bombs to the U.S. Last week, The Associated Press disclosed that the CIA thwarted a new plot to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner, this time using a bomb with a more sophisticated design.

The new offensive against al-Qaida in the south was taking place on at least four fronts, the Yemeni military officials said. The target is to regain Zinjibar, which authorities believe will deal a heavy blow to the militants and diminish al-Qaida's hold in the south.

By Tuesday, Yemeni troops had pushed into the center of Zinjibar and military helicopters were flying over the city for the first time in an indication that al-Qaida militants have lost its heavy weaponry capable of shooting down the helicopters, one military official said.

The troops "can for the first time catch a glimpse of the torched government buildings" that al-Qaida's fighters had hunkered down in during the battles that turned the downtown into a ghost city after thousands of residents fled, the official said. He added that six militants were captured in Zinjibar, but provided no other details on casualties on either side.

To the north, in the town of Jaar, warplanes were bombing al-Qaida hideouts Tuesday, according to the officials. One raid destroyed parts of a house, leaving two militants' bodies' charred. When local residents went to inspect the site of the attack, a second raid mistakenly killed eight of them and wounded 20, the officials said.

The third front in the offensive is to the west of Zinjibar, where the military managed to drive militants out of the town of Hurour, the officials said.

Abdu Dail, who fled Hurour with his family on Sunday, said most of the town people left after the military warned them about the upcoming offensive. Later on Sunday, warplanes bombed the town, killing at least 30 al-Qaida militants. Their bodies were found inside one of the town buildings.

To the east of Zinjibar, the military on Tuesday bombed al-Qaida hideouts in an area called Youssef Mountain on the outskirts of the town of Lawder. The town's residents, backed by the military, last year drove al-Qaida fighters who had overrun Lawder out but the militants tried to make a comeback.

Clashes following the bombardment killed two soldiers and two civilian volunteers, officials said. Eight bodies of al-Qaida militants were found but it wasn't clear when they were killed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.