Monday, 4 January 2016

Aden curfew imposed after 12 die in battles

ADEN: Yemeni authorities announced a dusk to dawn curfew in Aden starting on Monday following a night of gunbattles between armed men and government forces that killed at least 12 people from both sides, a local government spokesman said.
The government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has been grappling with lawlessness in the southern port since militiamen, backed by a Saudi-led Arab alliance, drove the Iran-allied Houthis out in July.
Nizar Anwar, spokesman for the Aden local government, said the clashes were concentrated around the cargo and container terminals in Aden, which the gunmen had sought to seize from security forces.
Eight members of the security forces and four gunmen died in the clashes, Anwar said, adding that security forces managed to secure both terminals late at night on Sunday.
“The security committee has decided to impose a curfew on all parts of Aden from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.,” Anwar said, adding that the curfew would remain in place until further notice. “This is a precautionary measure to deny armed elements freedom of movement,” he added.
Hadi toured the cargo terminal in the city’s Mualla district on Monday, port sources said, indicating that the facility was under government control.
A series of attacks have rocked Aden since July, including a booby-trapped car attack that killed Aden’s Governor General Jaafar Mohammed Saad and six members of his entourage last month.
In the latest attack on Monday, gunmen shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman Al-Gailani, a member of a Sunni Muslim Sufi group — a mystical school of Islam — after he left a mosque in the city’s Crater district, witnesses said.

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