9 killed as Yemen repels deadly Al-Qaeda attack

9 killed as Yemen repels deadly Al-Qaeda attack
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Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government announced on Tuesday they had repelled an attack by Al-Qaeda in the country’s south that left nine people dead on both sides.

According to Arab News, Yemeni forces managed to foil a large-scale terrorist attack against the headquarters of the government complex in Abyan province.

The attackers reportedly detonated two car bombs, before infiltrating the compound where they were confronted.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government established itself in the southern city of Aden after Iran-backed Houthi rebels drove them out of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Washington once regarded the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the militant network’s most dangerous branch.

Born in 2009 from the merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi factions, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war, which for over a decade has pitted the Iran-backed Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led coalition backing the government.

But attacks by the jihadist group, both against government forces and rebels, have decreased in recent years.