16 killed in raid outside southern Yemeni city of Mukalla

Yemeni troops killed 13 militants in a raid outside the southern city of Mukalla on Sunday in which two soldiers also died, the army said, extending a struggle to restore security in an area ruled until last month by Al Qaeda.

"Special forces and the army gained complete control over the site backed up by helicopters from the Arab coalition, which dealt with groups of terrorists spread around the area who were fleeing," an army statement said. 

"A search confirmed that these fighters were about to carry out a surprise terrorist attack on some military command centres at dawn this morning."

A security official said the fighters were from Al Qaeda.

Hours later three more militants were killed as a car bomb they were preparing detonated in the courtyard of a house in the Rawkab area where the raid had taken place, residents and a security official said.

They said that security forces were combing the area for more gunmen and explosives.

Before being forced out, Al Qaeda militants took advantage of more than a year of war between Houthi forces and supporters of President Abdrrabbo Mansour Hadi to carve out a mini-state stretching across much of the Arabian Peninsula country's southern coast, including Mukalla.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) trained and funded Yemeni forces for months and backed up their re-conquest of Mukalla on April 25 with air strikes.

Militants in Yemen's branch of IS have carried out a series of suicide attacks on all parties to Yemen's tangled conflict, killing 25 police recruits in a bombing outside Mukalla last week.

Meanwhile late on Saturday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel Malek Al Mekhlafi said Yemen's government will give UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait a "last chance", four days after the delegation suspended participation in the process aimed at ending the war.

Representatives from Hadi and Houthi rebels have been meeting for nearly a month in Kuwait for talks to ease the war.

The government withdrew from the talks on Tuesday, saying it would only return if its opponents committed to withdraw from cities they have seized since 2014 and hand over weapons.

Mekhlafi wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the government delegation would give the talks "a last chance" after President Hadi held meetings with the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait, as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The talks are focused on government demands for the Houthis to hand over their weapons and quit captured cities, as well as the formation of a new government that would include the rebels.

The government is currently based in the southern Yemeni port of Aden, while the Houthis retain control of the capital Sanaa.

The peace talks began last month after a tentative ceasefire which reduced clashes in the country.

Source: Timesofoman