30 Qaida Fighters Dead in Yemen Air Raids

Thirty suspected militants were killed as Yemeni aircraft pounded al-Qaida positions between the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa on Wednesday, a local official told AFP.

The aircraft carried out several strikes, the mayor of Mahfed town on the outskirts of Abyan and Shabwa, Yaslam al-Anburi, told AFP by telephone. "There were 30 deaths in al-Qaida ranks for sure."

"Yemeni aircraft carried out a series of raids against concentrations of al-Qaida fighters, mainly in the Wadi Dhiman and Dayda valleys, killing 30 and wounding many others," he said.

Earlier, a tribal chief said three suspected militants were killed and four wounded in an air raid targeting a group of al-Qaida fighters in a desert region between Abyan and Shabwa provinces.

Yemen's military launched a campaign in May against al-Qaida in the south which succeeded in ending more than a year of jihadist control over a string of towns and villages in Abyan and Shabwa provinces.

The group's fighters are believed to have retreated to safe havens in the country's mountainous regions in Shabwa, Marib and Hadramawt provinces where they enjoy tribal protection.

Residents of the area where the raids occurred said dozens of jihadists had been concentrating in the region since fleeing the villages and towns lost in Abyan and Shabwa.