Clashes leave 27 dead as Yemen troops target Al-Qaeda

ADEN: Eight soldiers and 19 suspected members of Al-Qaeda were killed in Yemen on Sunday, as the army launched an offensive against key outposts of the extremists, a military official said.

General Faraj al-Bahsani, governor of Hadramawt province, told AFP the army had taken control of the Mesini Valley west of Mukalla, a central site for Al-Qaeda in southeast of the country.

Mukalla was the most populated Yemeni city under direct Al-Qaeda control from 2015 to 2016, when the army and its regional military allies seized control of the port city. Special forces trained by the United Arab Emirates — a key member of a Saudi-led alliance fighting alongside Yemen’s government forces — over the weekend launched the offensive, codenamed “Al-Faisal”, against Al-Qaeda cells in oil-rich Hadramawt province. Two soldiers were killed on Saturday in the offensive, which targets the Mesini and Amed Valleys — both in the vast province of Hadramawt and home to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).