Yemen nabs top al-Qaeda militant in Aden

By Mohamed al-Samai

ADEN, Yemen (AA) – Yemeni police forces on Monday detained a high-profile al-Qaeda militant in the southern Aden city.

In a statement, police said a senior al-Qaeda militant was arrested for his involvement in a spate of bombings and assassinations of security and military officials in Aden.

According to the statement, the militant, who was identified as “Aboudi”, and two other militants were planning a car-bomb attack in the city.

The statement described Aboudi as one of the most wanted militants for security agencies in Yemen.

Yemen fell into a civil war in late 2014 when the Shia Houthi group overran capital Sanaa and other provinces, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.

Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south -- including provisional capital Aden -- but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.