Yemeni security forces kill senior Islamic State commander

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Members of the Yemen Special Forces Counter-Terrorism squad run up a hillside armed with automatic weapons during live-fire drills at a training range on the outskirts of Sana'a, Yemen April 14, 2010. Yemen continues efforts to improve the quality of its' armed forces as it faces a Houthi rebel movement in the North, a separatist movement in its Southern territory, and Al Qaeda terrorist activity.

 

 

ADEN: Yemeni security forces said they killed a senior Islamic State commander in a gun battle in the southern city of Aden on Saturday, dealing a blow to the group’s powerful Yemen branch.

Saleh Nasser Fadhl al-Bakshi held the title of “Prince” for the Aden area in the militant group’s Yemen affiliate, which has killed hundreds of people, mostly security forces in the country’s south, in years of bombing and shooting attacks.

Counter-terrorism forces surrounded al-Bakhshi in a building, according to a statement on the Aden police Facebook page, when he and fellow militants refused to surrender.

In the ensuing shootout, one of the counter-terrorism force members was killed along with al-Bakshi, whose bloodied corpse was displayed in a picture accompanying the police statement. Three of his comrades were arrested, it added.

Islamic State gained a foothold in Yemen late in 2014 as the country collapsed into civil war between the armed Houthi movement and the internationally recognised government, opening a security vacuum and sparking Saudi-led military intervention.