Yemeni war planes bombed a village in south Yemen on Monday, killing at least 13 people who a local official said were Islamist militants challenging army control in the flashpoint province of Abyan.
The army has launched an offensive against militants whom they suspect of ties to al Qaeda and who have seized several areas in Abyan in recent months — including the provincial capital Zinjibar, which lies east of a strategic shipping lane where some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily. But it has yet to recapture any significant territory other than an army camp near the coastal provincial capital. Residents and a local official said warplanes twice bombed the village of al-Khamila, about 10 km (six miles) from Zinjibar. As protests against Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh rule drag into their sixth month, Abyan has faced rising bloodshed, with the army fighting to regain control. About 90,000 people have fled the clashes.
