More from the “Arab Spring.”

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Government warplanes and artillery struck Islamic militants who seized a town in southern Yemen, where extremists suspected of links to Al Qaeda have begun operating openly, training with weapons and controlling roads, emboldened by the country’s political turmoil.

The U.S. fears that the impoverished country’s power vacuum will give even freer rein to Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen — already the terror network’s most active franchise.

Early on in Yemen’s upheaval, militants in March seized the small farming town of Jaar and surrounding areas. On May 27, thousands of militants took control of the nearby city of Zinjibar, capital of southern Abyan province on the Arabian Sea coast, taking advantage of a breakdown of authority resulting from the government’s battle with armed tribesmen seeking to topple President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s autocratic leader of more than three decades.

The government says the militants are suspected of links to Al Qaeda, though their identity is unclear. Yemen is home to thousands of Islamic militants, many of them veterans of “jihads” in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, others homegrown extremists. Many have past links to Al Qaeda, though most are believed to operate independently. Al Qaeda’s branch in the country is believed to number several hundred fighters.