Loyalists retake provincial capital
Forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government recaptured a southern provincial capital from Shia rebels and their allies yesterday as they pressed an advance from second city Aden.
Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, had been held by troops of the renegade 15th Brigade which remains loyal to ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh who is allied with the rebels.
Troops entered the coastal town, some 50 kilometres east of Aden, after overrunning the brigade's barracks outside with support from Saudi-led air strikes, military sources said.
Residents of Zinjibar forced out by fighting that devastated their city also returned yesterday to take stock of the damage, a relief official said.
But many, including loyalist fighters, lost their lives as they traded on mines planted by the rebels before they withdrew from the city.
At least 19 people were killed and 163 wounded on Saturday and yesterday in Zinjibar and the surrounding area, Aden health chief Al-Khader Laswar told AFP.
Mines and unexploded ordnance have caused similarly high death tolls in Aden itself since the rebels' pullout last month, with dozens of civilians reported killed and hundreds wounded.
Zinjibar is the third southern provincial capital from which the rebels have been driven out.
The loyalists secured Aden in mid-July and Lahj provincial capital Huta on August 4.
Aden was the last refuge of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi before he fled into exile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia in March.
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