SANAA, 19 December — Yemeni troops backed by tanks and helicopters yesterday raided a village where combatants of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network were believed to be holed up, leaving between 12 and 15 people dead, tribal sources said. At least 25 men on both sides were wounded, the sources told AFP.
Yemeni Army and police units laid siege during the morning to Al-Hosun village in Marib province, 200 kilometers east of the capital Sanaa. The special troops fired shells "in the hunt for elements who returned recently from Afghanistan and who are believed to be members of Al-Qaeda," one tribal source said.
A gunbattle followed between government forces and men of the Abeideh tribe, who control the plains village near the town of Marib and have sheltered the Al-Qaeda supporters, witnesses said.
The clashes "left 12 people dead from the two sides", a tribal dignitary told AFP. Police would neither confirm nor deny the toll.
"Several people were also wounded," said the tribal elder, speaking on condition of anonymity. Army tanks also entered the fray and several houses were destroyed, witnesses said.
"The military attack came to a halt in the middle of the afternoon after about two and a half hours of shelling," the tribal elder said. "Hostilities have stopped," said a police source who asked not to be named. But "tension remains very high in the region."
"Special units and helicopters are combing the provinces of Marib, Shabwa and Al-Juf in search of two or three members of Al-Qaeda, holders of Yemeni passports," said the latest edition of September 26 weekly, which has close links to the military and President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Many Al-Qaeda members are reportedly on the run from Afghanistan after US-backed Afghan opposition forces routed the Taleban regime which sheltered Bin Laden.
Bin Laden’s family originates from Yemen and the world’s most wanted man has found support among people from his ancestral home. The United States suspects Bin Laden was also behind the October 2000 blowing up of the US destroyer Cole in Aden harbor, southern Yemen, that killed 17 American sailors.
Saleh, who has said Yemen could be a target in the US-led war against terror, created special forces to battle terror last year under the command of his son, Col. Ahmed Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen has arrested two or three members of Al-Qaeda, Saleh has said, adding that Washington gave him a list of wanted suspects during his Nov. 27 visit when he met US President George W. Bush.
The official Saba news agency quoted a security source as saying that some people suspected of sheltering the wanted men had been arrested. A government source told Reuters that tribal chiefs were trying to negotiate an end to the military operation. But the official said the government had refused any mediation and wanted the suspects to be handed over.
Western diplomats say most of the militants are war veterans who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Many are protected by powerful tribal leaders in mountain regions outside the central government’s control.
A Yemeni security source told Reuters that the fighting erupted when the tribesmen refused to hand over a tribal chief and several militants who were tracked to the area by Yemeni forces.
