Al-Qaeda demands power in south Yemen

The Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed Al-Qaeda mediators have demanded the Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed to be in power in south Yemen. The Minister revealed that he met the al-Qaeda militants in Aden, South Yemen. The group reportedly said: “The Yemeni Socialist Party has ruled in the south for 25 years, now it is al-Qaeda’s turn.”
Local sources in the southern province of Abyan said to Arabstoday that al-Qaeda militants have been sending out letters in many towns of the province, threatening the local residents that they are preparing for a new takeover in Abyan after they were forced to pull out of the province thanks to a US-backed military raid carried out by the Yemeni army in May.
The sources added that security conditions in the province are very poor and al-Qaeda attacks have been very frequent recently.Minister Ahmed himself was exposed to several assassination attempts carried out by al-Qaeda suspects, the latest of which was in September when a suicide bomber targeted his convoy in Sanaa. Ahmed escaped death but eight of his colleagues and four passers-by were killed.
In the same context, Mohammed Aydarus, leader of the pro-government Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in the southern Lawder district, was killed in a car accident in Lawder on Wadnesday. According to local sources, Aydarus was returning from a meeting with Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed when his vehicle crashed. He was known for his role in helping the Yemeni army in its military operation against al-Qaeda in April and May 2012 in Abyan province.
Although official sources stressed that he died in a car crash, locals believe the crash was plotted by al-Qaeda.
Another three members of the Popular Committees were killed Tuesday evening at a checkpoint by a laden-explosive car of al-Qaeda in the southern province of Abyan.
Separately, nine civilians were injured, one seriously, when police tried to disperse protesters from pro-secession southern Yemen factions on Wednesday, local sources said.
A demonstration was staged in Shabwa province by the pro-unity forces, but a pro-secession faction of the southern movement, Harak, intercepted it forcing the police to intervene, the sources said.
The main demonstration was organised by the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Southern Revolutionary Forces Council. The council reportedly gathered pro-unity supporters in the Nasab area before the demonstration moved on, but the Harak group rallied to intercept the demonstration, the sources added.
Supporters from both sides clashed hurling stones at each other. The police intervened to disperse them, using round shots, the sources explained.
After the 2011 popular uprising against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime, disagreements between southern factions have grown.
The southern movement, Harak, divided into several groups including those who refuse the demand of secession.