50 Yemen soldiers missing after clashes with 'Qaeda'

[Guest guest]

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50 Yemen soldiers missing after clashes with 'Qaeda'

By Mohammed Huwais | AFP – Sat, 2 Jul, 2011

Fifty Yemeni troops have been posted as missing after clashes with Islamist

militants around the southern city of Zinjibar, a commander said on Saturday,

accusing top brass of abandoning them to Al-Qaeda.

" We have lost all trace of 50 soldiers after an attack by Al-Qaeda elements

enabled them to recapture control of the Al-Wahda stadium " outside Zinjibar, the

commander serving with the 25th Mechanised Brigade told AFP on condition of

anonymity.

He was unable to specify whether the troops had been killed, captured or

deserted in the battle for the stadium which the army had recaptured from the

militants only on Friday.

The commander accused the defence ministry of abandoning the brigade's soldiers

to their fate in the face of repeated attacks by the militants of the Partisans

of Sharia (Islamic Law) movement who seized much of Zinjibar in late May.

" Senior ministry officials have stood idly while all this has been going on. But

we are not going to surrender to the Al-Qaeda militants, we are going to fight

to the last cartridge case, " he said.

The Sanaa government says the militants in Zinjibar are allied with Al-Qaeda but

the opposition accuses it of playing up a jihadist threat in a desperate attempt

to keep embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power.

Saleh had been a key US ally in its " war on terror " but has faced mass protests

against his rule since January and is currently receiving treatment in

neighbouring Saudi Arabia for blast wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his

palace.

The ancestral homeland of slain jihadist leader Osama bin Laden, Yemen is the

home of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, an affiliate of the global

network accused of anti-US plots, including an attempt to blow up a US-bound

aircraft on Christmas Day 2009.

Near the main southern city of Aden, troops opened fire on a vehicle they

considered suspect on Saturday, killing a civilian police identified as Nafee

Bakchi and wounding four.

[Guest guest]

Probably some of each case. The prisoners will probably be killed on video tape to demoralize the other Yemeni troops while some might have switched sides.

In a message dated 7/3/2011 3:00:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

He was unable to specify whether the troops had been killed, captured or deserted in the battle for the stadium which the army had recaptured from the militants only on Friday.