Yemen Monitor/Aden/Reuters:
At least two soldiers were killed on Friday in two separate attacks apparently carried out by al-Qaeda militants in the governorates of Hadramout and Abyan in southern and eastern Yemen, according to a military source and two security sources, Reuters reported.
The agency quoted two security sources as saying, “A terrorist group targeted a water transport vehicle belonging to Dere’a Al-Watan forces in the Al-Abr area in Hadramout desert, killing soldier Salem Baqdim and wounding another, and the terrorist group fled into the desert.”
This is the first attack targeting the new government Dere’a Al-Watan forces, which were established two years ago with Saudi support and have a presence in the Al-Abr area on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The forces consist of two military divisions, the first consisting of nine brigades based in the temporary capital Aden and deployed in the surrounding areas, while the second division of the Dere’a Al-Watan forces is based in Hadramout Governorate in the east and consists of five brigades.
No official comment has been issued on the incident by the security authorities in the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
A military source said that at least one soldier was killed on Friday in an attack by al-Qaeda militants in Abyan Governorate.
Military spokesman for the STC forces, Mohammad al-Naqeeb, told Reuters that the attack took place in the Al-Kasara area in Wadi Amran in Mudiyah district, east of Abyan, and witnessed the killing of a soldier in a sniper operation and the wounding of his colleague.
No party has yet claimed responsibility for the two attacks, but al-Qaeda has recently intensified its attacks on government and pro-government forces such as the STC.
