18 dead as rebels hit Yemeni Army posts

SANAA: At least eight Yemeni soldiers and 10 Al-Qaeda militants were killed in clashes on Wednesday when insurgents attacked two military posts in a southern province where the government mounted an offensive two weeks ago, military sources said.
The sources told Reuters the fighting in Gol Al-Rayda and Azzan districts of Shabwa province started early in the morning and raged for several hours. An army colonel was among the dead, a Defense Ministry source said.
The Yemeni Army had captured both Gol Al-Rayda and Azzan, as well as the Mahfad district in Abyan province, earlier this month after heavy fighting in which scores were killed on both sides.
A military source in Azzam said that eight soldiers and 10 Al-Qaeda militants were killed in the fighting. Air force planes were also striking at fleeing militants, he added.
A Yemeni journalist who specializes in covering Al-Qaeda, Abdulrazzaq Al-Jamal, reported on his Facebook page that the militants killed soldiers at a checkpoint and raised a black flag inscribed with the words “There is no god but God and Mohammed is his Prophet” on the main police station in Azzan.
Residents also said that many people were forced to stay indoors as sounds of clashes rang out over the town.
Military sources in the field said the army forced the militants to retreat, and they took with them the bodies of their dead or wounded.
Five militant vehicles were destroyed, the Defense Ministry said. Government forces also captured a number of the militants in Azzan, who were found in possession of “documents, bombs and explosives belts,” it said.