SANAA, Yemen, May 18 (UPI) -- National armed forces aided by local tribesmen have freed the town of Lawdar in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan from al-Qaida, officials said Thursday.
The assaults against al-Qaida in Abyan were conducted in partnership with local tribes and with military assistance from the United States, Defense Ministry officials told the 26 September newspaper. They added three towns had been freed -- Lawder, Modia and al-Wadea on Thursday evening.
Ahmed al-Maisari, Abyan governor and leader of al-Harak, the Southern Secessionist Movement, urged followers to assist the armed forces, calling for unity. He told al-Masdar newspaper it was his followers' homeland that stood in the balance as well as their future.
Under pressure from President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the commander in chief of the Republican Guards Ahmed Ali Saleh, agreed to send his elite troops to fight with rank-in-file soldiers in Abyan, changing the power balance in favor of the government, Mareb Press reported.
Saleh is a son of deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
