42 die in Yemen as troops battle militants
Forty-two people have been killed in heavy clashes between the army and al-Qaida-linked militants in the country’s south.
The military used warplanes and heavy artillery in its assault early today on the town of al-Hurur in Abyan province, killing at least 30 militants, officials said.
Al-Hurur is just outside the city of Jaar, one of many towns in southern Yemen that have been under the control of al-Qaida fighters since last year.
Twelve government troops were killed today in fighting in the town of al-Code and the provincial capital of Zinjibar.
In the capital, Sanaa, President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, met the new Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
