Yemen officials say 44 anti-rebel fighters killed in ambush

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SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Yemeni security officials and witnesses say an ambush in the port city of Mocha killed 44 anti-rebel fighters.

The officials said Tuesday that the ambush by Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, took place the day before.

In a separate development, security officials say more than 20 Houthi fighters were killed Monday and Tuesday in clashes in the central Marib province.

The officials, who are neutral in a conflict that has split the armed forces, spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters. Witnesses declined to give their names for fear of reprisals.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-17-11-13-28

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1. 3 Americans Held Captive in Yemen Freed, Flown to Oman

Three Americans held captive by Shiite rebels in Yemen's capital have been freed, Oman's state news agency and officials in Yemen said Thursday.

The short English-language statement on the Oman News Agency said only that the U.S. State Department had asked Oman to bring the Americans out of the country. It did not elaborate or provide information on the Americans' identities.

However, independent security officials in Yemen and members of the Shiite rebels known as Houthis said the Americans had been detained for at least two months at a Houthi security building in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa.

The rebels and the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief journalists, did not say why the Americans were held. Two of them were working with the United Nations, the officials said, while offering no information about the third.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/oman-news-agency-americans-flown-war-torn-yemen-35300852

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2. Islamic State claims Yemen attack

Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on the army in the eastern region of Hadramawt on Friday that a security source said killed at least 19 Yemeni soldiers and 35 militants.

Earlier on Friday a different security source said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was responsible for the attack.

Islamic State's Yemen branch has attacked both main sides in the country's civil war in recent months, targeting the Shi'ite Houthi militia in mosques in the capital Sanaa as well as Saudi-led forces and a local grouping of anti-Houthi fighters, with suicide blasts in Aden in September that killed dozens.

Islamic State said in a statement it had killed nearly 50 soldiers in the attack, many more than the number cited by local officials, and just one of its fighters was killed carrying out a suicide bombing using a car in the assault.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/20/us-yemen-security-qaeda-idUSKCN0T910720151120