|
ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 30-- Following days of intense fighting that erupted between Yemen's government forces and military units of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), life has returned to several main cities in the country's turbulent south. The days-long fighting ended in STC military units seizing over several strategic cities in the southern province of Abyan after securing the neighboring port city of Aden. A local military source told Xinhua that the Aden-based STC deployed heavy forces backed by armored vehicles in and around the town of Jaar, Abyan's second-largest city, and in the province's capital of Zinjibar city. Hassan Oudaly, an Abyan-based resident, told Xinhua that his residential neighborhood was besieged because of the intense fighting and Abyan became a ghost province. "During the past days, residents in Jaar and Zinjibar were too scared to step outside as dozens of masked gunmen were combing the cities amid street fighting," Oudaly said. "Today, of course, the situation completely changed as many families who fled their houses returned," he said. He added that "people went out to the streets and started shopping from the public markets after the seizure of the southern forces over their cities." Electricity and water supply were disrupted in many southern areas including Aden and Abyan but returned after ending the fighting between the two warring rivals. | 
