ADEN, Yemen, July 7 (Xinhua) -- At least seven al-Qaida militants were killed and dozens of others were injured when warplanes of the Yemeni air forces carried out air raids against several hideouts of the group in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, a local army officer told Xinhua.
A number of al-Qaida targets in Zinjibar city, the provincial capital of Abyan province, were pounded, during which seven militants were killed and dozens of others were injured, the officer told Xinhua, who asked to remain anonymous, adding that fierce clashes were still going on in various areas of Abyan province.
Meanwhile, the country's Defense Ministry said Thursday that three al-Qaida high-profile leaders were killed during several armed clashes with the army troops in Zinjibar.
Ali Mubarak Firas, who has been to Afghanistan for training and studies and is considered to be the commander of al-Qaida fighters in Yemen's Marib province, along with Shaif al-Jarbou Hijazi and Walid Mushafi al-Asisri, a Saudi citizen and the commander of al- Qaida military operations in Abyan province, were killed during their failed attacks against the besieged 25th Mechanized Brigade in the al-Qaida-seized Zinjibar city since Wednesday evening, the ministry said.
It also said that the Saudi citizen al-Asisri was in the most wanted lists by security forces in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Foreigners of various nationalities were involved among al- Qaida militants in Abyan in the fighting against the army forces, according to the ministry.
Abyan, some 480 km south of the capital Sanaa, has become almost under control of resurgent al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula since the militants seized Abyan's provincial capital city of Zinjibar late in May.
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