ADEN: Yemeni forces shelled a suspected Al-Qaeda hide-out in the restive southern city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, killing 12 militants, a local official told AFP on Thursday.
"Army units fired artillery shells from (the adjacent) village of Al-Kud and from Al-Wahda stadium (on the city's outskirts) at a house where Al-Qaeda gunmen were hiding," said the official who spoke from the nearby town of Jaar, an Al-Qaeda stronghold.
"Twelve militants were killed, among them an Egyptian and a Bahraini" in the attack that took place on Wednesday, he added.
Witnesses also said militants on Wednesday severed the hand of a man they accused of stealing electrical cables and robbing homes in Jaar.
The punishment was carried out in a large field in front of dozens of residents summoned to watch, the witnesses said.
Since May, Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken control of several towns in Abyan as 10 straight months of protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime have weakened central government control.
In recent weeks, the militants from the group Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) have enforced their own very strict interpretation of Islamic justice.
On November 12, they handed out 80 lashes each to five youths they said had taken narcotic pills.
In September, the militants severed the hand of a 15-year-old as punishment for stealing electrical cables. He later died from blood loss.
At least two other men have had their hands severed since the boy's death and another Yemeni was executed after the militants accused him of murder.
The town of Jaar, where all the punishments have taken place, remains under militant control and residents say there is no government presence.
The militants have taken advantage of a weakening of central authority since January, when tens of thousands of Yemenis launched an unprecedented protest movement against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime.
Despite months of clashes, government troops have so far been unable to take back full control of Abyan's towns and cities.
President Saleh, in power for 33 years, signed a Gulf-brokered deal on Wednesday under which he was to hand all powers to his vice president and hold office on an honorary basis for the next 90 days.
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