More than 100 Yemeni soldiers and at least 25 suspected al Qaeda gunmen were killed in attacks on military positions in the country's restive south, medics and local officials said on Monday. Sunday's assault was one of the deadliest against Yemeni troops and the latest in a spate of attacks on security forces since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged a crackdown on the militants in an inauguration speech last month.
A medical official at the military hospital in the southern port city of Aden, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "the death toll... has risen to at least 103" soldiers. He said "many soldiers died from wounds sustained in the assault" on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital where militants linked to al Qaeda are in control.
A military official, who also declined to be identified, told AFP al Qaeda militants were responsible for the "surprise attack" which had turned into "a massacre." Another medic said hospital staff were overwhelmed by the number of casualties.
"We were forced to use administrative offices and waiting rooms to treat the wounded," he told AFP, declining to be named. "The hospital was packed full with dead and injured" soldiers. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the United States is "very concerned" about the assault.
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