Yemen Army and Al Qaeda fighting 124 dead in Loder in Abyan Yemen

124 killed in 48 hours of fighting between Yemeni troops and Al Qaeda militants in the country’s restive south, military and tribal sources said on Tuesday.

“One hundred and twenty-four people were killed in two days” of clashes around the city of  Loder in Abyan province which is besieged by Al-Qaeda, said a military official.

The toll, which was confirmed by tribal sources, includes 102 Al-Qaeda militants — 28 of them killed Tuesday –, 14 soldiers, and eight of the tribesmen fighting alongside the army. The fighting surged after Al-Qaeda militants attacked army barracks.
The clashes in Loder followed a series of air strikes that killed 24 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in their southern and eastern strongholds.
The city of Loder is located some 150 km northeast of Zinjibar, the Abyan provincial capital which the Al-Qaeda linked Partisans of Sharia militants overran in May last year.