Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit an al-Qaeda training camp in the network’s southeastern Yemen stronghold on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens, Government officials in the region said.
“An Arab coalition air force targeted an Al-Qaeda training camp, killing and wounding dozens” in Hajr, west of Hadramawt’s provincial capital Mukalla which has been held by the jehadists since April.
Tribal sources in the area told AFP that a series of air strikes hit the camp and that wounded militants were taken to a hospital in Mukalla.
Witnesses there reported seeing around nine vehicles carrying casualties from the area. Dozens of Al-Qaeda militants were meanwhile seen rushing to the hospital to donate blood, according to residents.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have taken advantage of the conflict between the rebels and coalition-backed loyalist forces to reinforce their presence in the south and east of the country.
The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is classified by the United States as the network’s deadliest franchise and had claimed attacks on the West in the past.