Al-Qaeda takes control of government complex in Abyan province

Al-Qaeda fighters yesterday seized the government complex in Zanzibar, the capital of the Abyan province, southern Yemen.

Local residents told the Anadolu Agency that Al Qaeda militias took control of the government headquarters in Zanzibar and drove out resistance fighters who were staying in the complex.

Al-Qaeda seized full control of the province four years ago, and fought a war that for a year with units of the Yemeni army and popular groups before withdrawing to the province of Hadramout.

Abyan and a number of southern provinces that were recently liberated from the Houthis are experiencing chaos in light of the Yemeni government’s inability to put an end to the escalating problems.

The Abyan province is 45 kilometres away from Aden, the economic and commercial capital of Yemen.