Al-Qaeda fighters seize army base as Yemen drifts toward war

[Bosonic]

Source: Aljazeera

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters seized a large Yemeni army base during a dawn attack Thursday, prompting airstrikes from government forces just hours later. The raid comes as the United Nations warned that the country was on the brink of civil war.

Ansar al-Sharia, an umbrella group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda network, captured the compound in the southern province of Shabwa after several hours of heavy clashes, residents and local news sites said.

The fighters claimed via Twitter that they had set off a suicide bomb at the gates and “imprisoned most of the soldiers inside.” The base housed a brigade of up to 2,000 government soldiers, though the number taken hostage could not be confirmed.

A local tribal source told Al Jazeera that in seizing the base the group had acquired a total of 25 tanks, dozens of armored vehicles and trucks and some number of anti-aircraft rockets.

Read more: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/12/al-qaeda-fighters-seize-army-base-as-yemen-drifts-toward-war.html

[Roy Rolling]

1. Treading on thin ice

If al-Qaeda doesn't watch out, we will send in a president riding shotgun during a fighter jet carrier landing under a banner of "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

That'll learn 'em.

[Hulk]

2. Just don't let them out of the base.

Would they have that many in their ranks that even know how to drive a tank?

[bemildred]

3. No doubt those weapons will come in handy in their fight with the Houthis. nt