SANA’A – A key coastal city deserted by Yemeni security forces is now under control of Islamist militants, according to residents and security officials.
Critics accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh of allowing militants to seize Zinjibar to distract from four months of protests calling for an end to his 33-year rule. Mr Saleh has warned that without him, al-Qaeda would thrive in Yemen.
There is a tense ceasefire in the capital, Sana’a, between a powerful rebel tribe and the president’s troops.
After a fleeting clash with security forces, Zanjibar, a strategic city of 20,000 in the province of Abyan, was abandoned on Saturday to a militia of about 200 men who arrived the previous morning firing Kalashnikovs from pick-up trucks, according to residents. – (Guardian service)