At least 32 people were killed in a third day of clashes Wednesday between Yemeni soldiers backed by tribesmen and Al-Qaeda militants trying to take over a strategic town in Yemen’s south, local sources said. “Twenty-nine Al-Qaeda militants and three tribesmen were killed” in the battles raging on the outskirts of Loder, the Abyan province town that the extremists have been trying to retake, a source from the area said. Tribal sources also confirmed the toll. The tribesmen, who are residents of Loder, have formed “resistance committees” to prevent the militants from entering their town. Sixteen Al-Qaeda militants, among them two local leaders, were also captured by the tribal committees, tribal sources said. The latest deaths raised the toll to 156 people killed, most of them Islamist insurgents, since they raided army barracks on Monday. Residents in Loder, who confirmed that the battles were ongoing, said that two air strikes by Yemeni forces also targeted the southern entrances of the town. Local sources said that the fighting was concentrated near a power plant at the southern entrance to Loder. “Al-Qaeda militants are still insisting on taking over the town,” said the source. Loder is located some 150 kilometres (95 miles) northeast of Zinjibar, the Abyan capital which militants of the Al-Qaeda-linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) overran in May last year.
