Thousands of Yemenis – possibly as many as 80,000, according to al-Jazeera – are reported to to have fled their homes in Lawdar (or Loder) as the authorities conduct a massive house-to-house search ostensibly aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda militants.

Details are sketchy because the city, in the southern province of Abyan, is cut off and surrounded by troops. AFP, citing official and medical sources, says 33 people have been killed since fighting broke out there on Friday: 11 soldiers, 19 al-Qaeda suspects and three civilians.

The German news agency reports:

The Interior Ministry said police raided houses where Islamist militants and armed men believed to be loyal to the separatist Southern Movement were hiding in the town of about 100,000 inhabitants.

It said police were also pursuing injured suspects who were evacuated by fellow militants and who might seek treatment in hospitals in Abyan and the neighbouring provinces of Shabwa and al-Baiydha.

Police seized grenade launchers, assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition during the raids, the ministry said, adding that some of the gunmen managed to flee the besieged town.

The Defence Ministry accused members of the Southern Movement of backing al-Qaeda linked militants. In a statement, the ministry charged that members of the separatist movement are holed up with the Islamist fighters in some houses in Loudar.

Militants from al-Qaeda linked groups and other Islamist movements are believed to frequently take shelter in the nearby Hatat mountains ...

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 August 2010.