Al-Qaeda gunmen seize Yemeni town of Udain

Yemeni security officials said on October 16 that gunmen believed to have ties to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network seized the southwestern town of Udain.

Five policemen were killed in an overnight attack by gunmen on the town of Udain, 20km west of the provincial capital Ibb, a Yemeni security official said. Gunmen attacked and set fire to police headquarters, local government offices and the post office.

Houthi rebels on a street in Sanaa. (Source: THX/TTXVN)

Local officials said the gunmen attacked Udain in retaliation for the Shi'ite Houthi rebels seizing the town of Ibb hours earlier.

Al-Qaeda is active in several provinces, mainly in the south and southeast of Yemen. Meanwhile, Houthi rebels are active in the north, currently controlling Sanaa and the strategic port city of Hudeida and Dhamar province.

The force encountered little resistance as it seized Hudeida, Yemen’s second-largest port city, and Sanaa. For years, the Houthi rebels have exploited the power vacuum in Yemen to attack and seize key areas of the country. However, many fear that the Houthis’ expansion of control could spark a confrontation with Al-Qaeda militants.

Since the uprising that overthrew President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2002, Yemen - an important ally of the US in the fight against Al-Qaeda - has been caught in a difficult political transition that has led to frequent violence in the country./.

According to VNA