Heavy fighting in southern Yemen sends thousands fleeing (2nd Roundup)

Aug 24, 2010, 19:04 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - Fighters from an al-Qaeda linked group and government forces were fighting Tuesday in southern Yemen, forcing thousands of people from their homes, media reports said and a United Nations official confirmed.

The fighting was displacing people, an official with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told the German Press Agency dpa. The official said the agency was 'on alert' and trying to meet with people as they fled and assess their humanitarian needs.

Government forces were said to be slowly regaining control over the city of Loudar in Abyan province, according to the al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Security forces killed at least 18 suspected members of an al- Qaeda linked group since Saturday in a massive crackdown in the southern town. The number of dead is believed to have risen from Monday, when the last tally was reported.

The Interior Ministry said police raided houses where Islamist militants and armed men believed to be loyal to the separatist Southern Movement were hiding in the town of about 100,000 inhabitants.

It said police were also pursuing injured suspects who were evacuated by fellow militants and who might seek treatment in hospitals in Abyan and the neighbouring provinces of Shabwa and al- Baiydha.

Police seized grenade launchers, assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition during the raids, the ministry said, adding that some of the gunmen managed to flee the besieged town.

The Defence Ministry accused members of the Southern Movement of backing al-Qaeda linked militants. In a statement, the ministry charged that members of the separatist movement are holed up with the Islamist fighter in some houses in Loudar.

Militants from al-Qaeda linked groups and other Islamist movements are believed to frequently take shelter in the nearby Hatat mountains, located about 550 kilometres south of the capital Sana'a.

A police official told dpa that local authorities have evacuated residents to schools and temporary shelters to prevent civilian casualties.

The results of these actions were not independently verifiable, though civilians were said to be fleeing the region in their thousands.

'A house-to-house search is underway, and the campaign will not stop until the town is cleaned of those elements,' the official, who requested anonymity, said by phone from Zenjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan.

He was referring to Islamist militants and said some 200 fighters linked to al-Qaeda, including several foreigners, were believed to be hiding in the town.

The clampdown was triggered by an ambush by suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - a group linked to the global terror movement- on an armoured police vehicle in Loudar that left 11 policemen dead on Friday.

It follows a string of attacks by the al-Qaeda linked group that targeted security personnel in southern Yemen in the past two months.

The group claimed responsibility for five attacks in June and July, including one on the headquarters of the intelligence services in the southern port city of Aden that left 11 dead.

Yemen, a troubled and poor country at the south-west end of the Arabian Peninsula, has several anti-government forces waging armed conflict simultaneously.

Houti Shiite rebels have a front in the north, while a movement in the south is working to break away from Sanaa's grip. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has also in recent years established bases in the country, adding to the turmoil.

The thousands displaced by the latest fighting in the south would be added to the already hundreds of thousands of people in the country who lost their homes owing to fighting in other areas and refugees who have fled to Yemen from Somalia.