16 al-Qaeda, pro-Hadi militants slain in southern Yemen

More than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and militants loyal to fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have been killed in a powerful blast in the country’s strategic southern province of Aden.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 16 were killed on Tuesday, when a landmine explosion occurred in the Dar Saad district of the provincial capital city of Aden, Yemen’s official and Arabic-language Saba news agency reported.

The source added that the blast took place as the militants were attempting to infiltrate into the region.

Separately, eight al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and pro-Hadi militants were killed and more than 20 others injured when Yemeni army forces backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees carried out an ambush against them in the Sabar region of Yemen’s southwestern province of Lahij.

Yemeni soldiers also managed to destroy 17 armored vehicles belonging to militants in the al-Anad area.