Yemeni troops have recaptured a key port city from Al Qaeda militants who held it for a year, in what a Saudi-led coalition hailed Monday as a major victory in which over 800 militants were killed.
The assault on the southeastern city of Mukalla, home to some 200,000 people, was part of a wider counter-offensive against the extremists launched by pro-government forces last month after a year in which they had focused their firepower on Houthi rebels who control the capital.
It comes as government and rebel delegations hold peace talks in Kuwait and after US President Barack Obama during a visit to Saudi Arabia called for a negotiated settlement that would enable both sides to turn their attention on Al Qaeda.
At the talks, which opened last Thursday, UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that “significant differences remain but nonetheless there is consensus on the need to make peace”.
The peace talks and Obama visit have contributed to a change in “strategic priorities”, with Al Qaeda back at the top, according to the Soufan Group consultancy.
The militants’ Yemen-based branch, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is regarded by Washington as their most dangerous and the group’s militants have come under repeated US air and drone strikes in and around Mukalla.
The militants used the area as a base to plan attacks overseas, including a January 2015 assault on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people in Paris.
“We entered the city centre and were met by no resistance from Al Qaeda militants who withdrew west,” a military officer told AFP by telephone from Mukalla.
The officer, who requested anonymity, said residents had appealed to the militants to spare the city the destruction of fighting and to withdraw.
