Tuesday, 07 September 2010 02:23

LAHJ, 25 Dec -- Hundreds of people took out to the streets of several cites in the southern province of Lahj on Thursday condemning air strikes on suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in Abyan and Shabwa.  The protesters urged the Arab League and the United Nations to investigate what they described as “cold-blooded massacre of innocent civilians in Abyan and Shabwa.”  They chanted anti-government slogans, held banners of former president of south Yemen Ali Naser Muhammad and reiterated demands for the release of protesters detained in previous demonstrations.

Security soldiers watched the protesters as they marched in the streets without clashes.  Similar rallies were also held in the southern towns of al-Habileen and Radfan where thousands of people marched in the streets condemning the military raids that “targeted women, children and the elderly,” the Islamist Alsahwa website reported. On Thursday, and hours after tribal leader and head of the southern liberation council, Sheik Tariq al-Fadhli vowed to avenge the death of al-Qaeda militants, gunmen attacked a number of security and military posts in the southern region of al-Dhala.  The opposition Nasserites website, Alwahdawi reported “massive explosions rocked the city of al-Dhala on Thursday,” but no casualties were reported.