Al Qaeda kidnaps Yemeni officer

Militants linked to Al-Qaeda kidnapped a Yemeni army officer in a coastal town in the southern governorate of Abyan, an official said in a statement early on Thursday. The official stated that members of the organisation stopped battalion commander Colonel Ahmad Saleh Jaimlan while he was on his way back to his village Mikras, in the Al-Bayda governorate. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Colonel Jaimlan was forced out of his car and led to Jaar, one of the most prominent strongholds of Al-Qaeda in Abyan, while the militants let the rest of his family continue on their way. A local source in Jaar stated that three Al-Qaeda militants were killed in fights with the army, east of Zinjibar in Abyan, which is controlled by militant organisations.