ADEN: At least 80 troops from Yemen’s secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) have been killed in fighting with Saudi-backed forces and strikes since Friday, a military official from the group told AFP on Sunday.
At least 152 members of the UAE-backed STC forces were wounded and 130 were taken captive, the official said, giving a preliminary toll of casualties since the start of the Saudi-backed operation.
Forces supported by Riyadh began operations on Friday to retake swathes of territory seized by the STC, which is backed by Abu Dhabi, as a struggle for dominance deepened a rift between the two Gulf allies.
Most of the casualties occurred in strikes by the Saudi-led coalition that targeted military camps held by the separatists, the official said, including Al-Khasha and Barshid military camps in Hadramawt province.
An official with the Saudi-backed forces told AFP later Sunday that at least 14 of their fighters had been killed in fighting and over 30 wounded during the offensive.
Yemen’s presidency on Saturday announced the retaking of resource-rich Hadramawt, following an apparent retreat of the STC.
Riyadh-aligned government military officials on Saturday also said authorities in neighbouring Mahra province had switched back their allegiance without any resistance.
On Sunday, Saudi-backed forces were consolidating positions in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province, two government military officials told AFP.
But amid the chaos of the fighting and rapid retreats, a law enforcement official in Mukalla told AFP that at least 18 suspected militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda had escaped from a local detention centre in the port city.
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