Clashes that followed two simultaneous attacks by al-Qaeda suspects on army positions in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwa killed 10 soldiers and 13 jihadists on Wednesday, the army said.
“The Yemeni air force is participating in the battles, bombing columns of al-Qaeda vehicles trying to advance towards Azzan,” the Shabwa city that the army said it retook on Thursday last week.
The military’s losses included General Mohsen Saeed al-Ghazali, an aide to Yemen’s defense minister who was killed in one of the two attacks in Azzan and neighboring Jul al-Rida, a military official said.