ZINJIBAR (Arrahmah.com) – Ansar forum, with reference to the Xinhua News, reported that after a fierce battle with the forces of Yemeni apostates, the Mujahideen al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) managed to take over all government buildings and military bases in the city Zinjibar. The Mujahideen are patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints.
The fighters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on Friday took over 2 state-run banks and all the strategic points of the city.
In addition, the AQAP Mujahideen seized the headquarters of the General Security Camp, the building of puppet ministries, the Agricultural Cooperative Credit Bank. Several privately-owned companies have also passed under their control.
The apostates have confirmed that fighters of AQAP are now controlling almost the whole city of Zinjibar and setting up their own checkpoints at all three entrances of the city.
A doctor at Al-Razi Hospital said they had received one body of Mujahid, while 15 others were sent to the hospital with serious injuries.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness reported that Yemeni fighter jet was striking Khanfar Mountain in Jaar city, located nearby Zinjibar city.
The city, some 480 km south of the capital Sanaa, is a key stronghold of resurgent AQAP which has carried out frequent attacks against the Yemeni security and military personnel since 2009.
Reuters has in turn published an article which gives the views of various analysts, who say in one voice – the positions of al-Qaeda are growing with each passing day.
So, a senior British counter-terrorism official said aspects of AQAP were “very troubling,” including its ambition to strike outside its immediate neighborhood and what he said were its efforts to establish networks in East Africa and Europe.
“They’ve penetrated the global aviation system, they’ve got very competent explosives experts”, he said.
The official said AQAP Mujahideen was operating “in a state which is failing and whose security apparatus … has been diverted onto other matters, namely regime survival, creating areas of Yemen that are even less governed than they were a year ago”.
In turn, the expert Gregory Johnsen says:
“Given how distracted Saleh’s government is in its attempts to cling to power, AQAP has much more open space in which to operate at the moment”.
“There is no magic missile solution to the problem of AQAP in Yemen”, added Johnsen. (KC/arrahmah.com)
