Tribesmen and Al-Qaeda militants killed 22 people, all but two of them soldiers, and captured dozens of others in separate attacks over a 24-hour period, security and tribal sources said on Friday. “Al-Qaeda militants ambushed a military patrol near Safer (oil fields), in (the eastern province of) Marib, killing 11 soldiers,” a security official in Sanaa said. The assailants used machine-guns in Friday’s attack.
Also in Marib, two soldiers were killed, two wounded and 30 taken prisoner in a clash with tribesmen, said another security official and a tribal source. Six tribesmen were also wounded. The tribesmen, armed with anti-aircraft guns, attacked a military convoy trying to open the main Sanaa-Marib road, which the tribes have blocked in protest at local grievances.
