President Saleh isn’t going to last much longer and this is only going to get worse, time for the CIA to capitalize and start firing barrages of Hellfire missiles.
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Islamic militants seized control of a weapons factory, a strategic mountain and a nearby town in the southern Yemen province of Abyan Sunday, said a witness and security officials, as a political stalemate in the capital causes security to unravel around the country.
The fragile nation has been rocked by weeks of mass protests against the long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who refuses to step down.
Saleh’s fate is of deep concern to the U.S. as he is a key ally in the fight against al-Qaida, but with his attention on massive anti-government protests in the capital, security has declined in the provinces.
Residents of the southern Abyan province said police reduced their presence in towns weeks ago. Elsewhere, residents have pushed out police and soldiers and set up their own local militias for self defense.
In the areas they took over, the militants set up checkpoints around the small factory and in the town of al-Husn, patrolling the streets and searching cars, said resident Wahib Abdul-Qader.
They also seized control of a nearby Khanfar mountain that holds a radio station and a presidential guest house, said Ali Dahmash, an expert on Islamic militant groups who lives nearby.
Residents in the nearby town of Jaar, which was seized by the militants on Saturday, said they heard gunfire, but the scope of the battle wasn’t immediately clear.
The area lies close to the southern port town of Aden.
In another province of Yemen, security officials say suspected al-Qaida gunmen killed seven soldiers and wounded seven others in an attack on a military post. The attack took place at Ubaida area in the central Marib province, another province where the militant group is active and only under nominal government control.
UPDATE: Jihadi work accident?
SANAA, YEMEN (AP) — The death toll in an explosion at a south Yemen bullet factory on Monday rose to at least 110, and more bodies were expected to be recovered, doctors said.
They said the dead in the blast in the southern town of Jaar included woman and children in addition to many men.
A blast occurred after residents broke in to steal ammunition, a day after clashes between militants and the army in the town, doctors said.
Witnesses said the blast, possibly caused by a cigarette, caused a massive fire in the factory in the town of Jaar in Abyan province, where Al Qaeda militants and mainly leftist southern separatists are active.
“This accident is a true catastrophe, the first of its kind in Abyan,” said one doctor at the town’s state-run hospital. “There are so many burned bodies. I can’t even describe the situation.”
Doctors put the death toll at between 50 and 55, but said that even arriving at a figure was difficult because the charred remains were difficult to count. They said some victims would be buried in a mass grave.