Aid plane lands at Yemen's Mukalla after Qaeda ouster

An aircraft carrying medical aid from the United Arab Emirates landed on Sunday in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla which was retaken from Al-Qaeda on April 24.

"The plane chartered by the Emirates Red Crescent is the first to land at Mukalla airport since it closed more than a year ago after Al-Qaeda entered the city," airport director Anis Abdel Kader told AFP.

He said work was under way to make the airport operational again, with UAE help, so it can be "used as quickly as possible for commercial flights".

Militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula imposed harsh Islamist rule on Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt, after capturing it.

Special forces from the UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels across Yemen, played a major role in retaking the city.

On Friday, the United States said that "a very small number" of American soldiers were also involved in the operation, acknowledging for the first time that US troops had deployed in Yemen.

Source: AFP