ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of UAE-backed Yemeni troops launched Thursday a fresh anti-terror campaign and targeted al-Qaida hideouts in the southeastern province of Shabwa, a military official told Xinhua.
The newly-recruited forces carried out the first ground offensive against several hideouts of the al-Qaida gunmen in the town of Azzan in Shabwa province, and kicked out scores of terrorists from the surrounding areas, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.
Warplanes of the Saudi-led Arab coalition air-covered the Yemeni troops that deployed in around entrances of Azzan town in Shabwa province, the military source said.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch used to take Azzan town and other mountainous areas in Shabwa as safe places for hiding as well as training its new fighters, according to the source.
A government official told Xinhua by phone saying that the pro-government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition will keep tracking al-Qaida militants in various places of Shabwa province.
The oil pipelines and companies operating in Shabwa will be secured by local soldiers trained and equipped by the United Arab Emirates, the government official said anonymously.
The deployment of pro-government forces in Shabwa comes just one day after well-armed al-Qaida gunmen stormed a military checkpoint in Shabwa, killing five soldiers and injuring seven others in addition to seizing heavy weapons from targeted position.
On Wednesday, Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr along with some ministers and high-ranking military officials visited Abyan and attended a huge military parade there.
The Yemeni Prime Minister delivered a public speech inside a stadium and vowed to launch a new anti-terror campaign to eradicate terrorist elements from different areas in Abyan during the upcoming days.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa and Abyan provinces.
Yemen's government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels for control of the impoverished country.
Statistics showed that more than 8,000 people have been killed in Yemen's conflict, most of them civilians, since the Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in 2015.
The impoverished Arab country is also suffering the world's largest cholera outbreak, where about 5,000 cases are reported every day.
