Yemen has declared that the country is in open war against al-Qaeda and will be going after the militants wherever they might be situated, the president announced Thursday.
The country has been facing retaliatory attacks by insurgents bent on establishing an Islamist emirate in the Arabian peninsula state, Reuters reported.
More than two weeks ago, the army launched an offensive to dislodge al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from its southern strongholds.
In his first remarks since then, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said his troops would go after the insurgents in southern, central and northern provinces.
After government officials, security forces and foreigners faced a wave of attacks, Yemen launched its most concerted campaign in nearly two years against AQAP.
"He (Hadi) affirmed that the battle against this terrorist organization is open and that the army and security forces have to be prepared for cleansing operations in Abyan, Maarib, Shabwa and Bayda," the state news agency reported after the president met with the Supreme Security Committee.
"It is necessary to go after them with strength and decisiveness," Hadi said.
The militants have carried out retaliatory attacks in the capital Sanaa and beyond as their strongholds have been gradually squeezed in the southern regions of Abyan and Shabwa, according to Reuters.
"Last Friday, four soldiers were killed in a gun battle with militants near the presidential palace in Sanaa," Reuters reported. "On Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a military police building in the coastal city of Mukalla, killing at least 10 soldiers and a civilian."
Yemen, which shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has become an international concern. The United States has stepped up its support for the government and military, including conducting drone strikes.
After mass protests forced long-ruling president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2011, the country has been in turmoil.
