Abyan (South24) 

The AQAP-affiliate Ansar al-Sharia has claimed responsibility today for the bloody attack that targeted a security checkpoint last Tuesday, in Abyan Governorate, South Yemen.

In a statement published by "Al-Malahim" platform, the group said that it attacked a checkpoint of the Security Belt in Ahwar area of Abyan, killing 21 soldiers and wounding 7 others.

Ansar al-Sharia also acknowledged the killing of seven of its attacking members in the operation. And denied the arrest of any of its members.

The Security Belt forces were subjected to a violent attack on September 6, launched by AQAP members, two weeks after the Southern forces announced the "Arrows of the East" operation, which targets the organization's presence in the center of Abyan governorate.

Yesterday, the Southern forces announced that they had entered the city of Mudiyah, the organization's stronghold in Abyan, after spreading on the coastline and the districts of Lauder and Al-Wadhea.

According to a military source, the Southern forces incurred six deaths and a number of injuries as a result of the explosive devices planted by AQAP on the main roads.

On Tuesday evening, AQAP announced the launch of a military operation called "Arrows of Righteousness", apparently in response to the "Arrows of the East" operation announced by the Southern forces on August 23 to cleanse Abyan governorate of "terrorist groups".

The statement, which was seen by South24, and was published on behalf of "Ansar al-Sharia" group, said that his operation came to counter what they described as "the UAE-Zionist project in its quest to control the rest of South Yemen in favor of … the STC."

The statement admitted that its fighters had carried out several "operations" against what it described as "aggressors and proxies of America and the UAE." It said that the third military campaign - led by the Southern forces against them in Abyan - would fail.

In a related context, the UN Security Council members expressed in a statement yesterday their concern about the recent state of instability in South Yemen. 

In addition, the US State Department said that the US Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking agreed with the UAE President advisor Anwar Gargadh on the "necessity of stabilizing South" during a meeting in Abu Dhabi.

The Southern forces have been engaged in battles against AQAP militants simultaneously in the governorates of Abyan and Shabwa in the center of the country for more than three weeks.

AQAP has become more polarized by Yemeni political parties who see the independence of South Yemen as a threat to their interests.

In an earlier audio statement, AQAP accused the Saudi-led Coalition of seeking to divide Yemen.