Dozens of 'Al-Qaeda fighters' killed in Yemen

[al bupp]

Source: Al Jazeera America

Yemen's army has killed 37 al-Qaeda suspects and wounded dozens as part of a major offensive launched in the south of the country, the defence ministry has said.

The "terrorists" were killed in the Maifaa region of Shabwa province on Sunday, on the sixth day of the operation against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters, the ministry said in text messages sent to journalists according to the AFP news agency.

On Friday, soldiers backed by warplanes had killed five suspected al-Qaeda members in the same area.

Hours ahead of Sunday's raid, state news agency Saba reported that army reinforcements had been dispatched to Shabwa to "deal with al-Qaeda".

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/05/dozens-al-qaeda-fighters-killed-yemen-201454125424690884.html

[jwirr]

1. I always want to pound my head on the desk when I read these reports. How do we know they are

al-Qaeda? Do they wear headbands declaring themselves as such?

[ManiacJoe]

5. Sounds like they hit a training camp.

If so, then the affiliation is not in question.

[Recursion]

7. Sneakers, not headbands

Or at least that's what it was a decade ago. The "secret cell terrorist" model is just a fraction of AQ; mostly they train light infantry, who are as recognizable as any other paramilitaries.

[nyabingi]

2. These fighters need to flee Yemen

and head to Syria where they will receive Western backing and fresh American-made weapons to wage jihad with.

[MisterP]

4. correct: our treatment of AQ seems to depend entirely on longitude

[cosmicone]

3. A good start n/t

[okaawhatever]

6. I hope the government is able to kick AQAP out of Yemen. Yemen deserves more peace. nt

[Javaman]

8. or we are just fighting Saudi Arabia's proxy wars.

just like when the brits supplied tornado jets for the Saudi's to fight the Shia insurgency.

this has less to do with "al qaeda" then it does with keeping the Shia quiet.

during the whole Egyptian uprising, Yemen did a little uprising of their own, but it was the Shia that was doing it against the Sunni controlled government. And Saudi Arabia being primarily Sunni, didn't really care for those Shia upstarts going all "give me my rights" in their own back yard.

I have never ever believed for a single moment, that the original reason to bomb the living hell out of Yemen had a single thing to do with "al qeada". I may or may not be that way now, but it certainly wasn't originally.