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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Al-Qaida in Yemen takes arms depot

Seizure nets tanks, rocket launchers

Ahmed Al-Haj Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen – Al-Qaida’s Yemen branch routed government forces from a large weapons depot in the country’s east on Friday, seizing dozens of tanks, Katyusha rocket launchers and small arms, security officials said, as airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition intensified in the capital, Sanaa, and also in Yemen’s second-largest city.

The seized depot is located in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt – Yemen’s largest province where al-Qaida has been consolidating its control. Only the day before, the militants captured a major airport, an oil terminal and the area’s main military base.

The gains highlight how al-Qaida has exploited the chaos in Yemen, where Shiite rebels are battling forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led air campaign in support of Hadi, now in its fourth week, has so far failed to halt the rebels’ advance.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni affiliate is known, is widely seen as the global network’s most dangerous franchise and has been linked to several failed attacks on the U.S. The group claimed responsibility for the attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris earlier this year.

However, the Saudi-led air campaign has not targeted areas with an al-Qaida presence, including Hadramawt, where the militant group has long been implanted despite U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni counterterrorism operations. The coalition says the airstrikes are aimed at the rebels, known as Houthis, not al-Qaida.

On Friday evening, hundreds of al-Qaida supporters and fighters gathered at a theater in Mukalla to celebrate their victories in the Hadramawt region, singing war songs and chanting slogans.

Pro-Hadi forces gained some ground elsewhere in Hadramawt on Friday, with fighters capturing the province’s Masila oilfield, the country’s largest, commander Ahmed Bammas said over the telephone.

On the other side of the country, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeting the rebels intensified, with bombings in Sanaa and also Taiz, the country’s second-largest city.