Yemeni security forces struck several Al-Qaeda hideouts and training sites in Yemen Thursday, killing up to 34 suspected militants. At least 17 suspected militants were also arrested. The operations against Al-Qaeda in the Sana'a area and a southern province came as Yemen has recently acted more vigorously against the terror network on its territory. Yemen has struggled in its efforts to deal with Al-Qaeda's growing presence as well as its homegrown extremism. Provincial security official Saleh El-Shamsy said airstrikes early Thursday followed by a ground operation targeting a training camp in the southern Abyan province killed up to 30 suspected militants. A security official and witnesses, meanwhile, said civilians were caught up in the government offensive in Abyan, with several homes destroyed in the airstrikes and others stormed by troops who mistook them for Al-Qaeda hideouts. One witness, 33-year-old Mohammed Saleh Al-Kathimi, said seven bodies of women and children have so far been recovered from the rubble. The claims by the witnesses and the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, could not be independently confirmed. Separately, the Interior Ministry said operations were carried out in areas outside Sana'a, killing four would-be suicide bombers and arresting 17 suspected militants. The suicide bombers were in the Arhab district northeast of the capital. Those arrested included another four would-be suicide bombers, one of whom was wounded in the fighting. “These individuals (suicide bombers) planned to strike at schools as well as interests at home and abroad,” the ministry statement said. It did not identify the targets or the foreign countries where they allegedly planned to strike. Yemen is also battling a separate Shiite rebellion in the north and separatist unrest in the south. US not involved in military operations Yemen has refuted allegations by the rebels in the northern governorate of Sa'ada that the US warplanes are taking part in the military operations there. Yemen's official news agency quoted a military source as saying, “It is just a rumor and an attempt to justify their (Huthis) defeat.” Washington also denied its military forces were involved in the conflict with the Huthi rebels. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the US State Department, rejected the allegations outright. “We do not have a military role in this conflict,” he said.
