http://www.yemenobserver.com
Sana’a police have stated that two officers were discovered to have been fighting alongside al-Qaeda when captured in a hospital receiving treatment for wounds suffered while fighting alongside the militants southeast the capital Sana’a.
A security source in the interior ministry said that the two police members arrived at a private hospital in the capital Sana’a on January 29 for treatment and they admitted to have been fighting alongside al-Qaeda recently following an investigation into the matter. The source also stated that the police officers provided their security identity cards in the hospital and claimed they were injured by armed tribesmen blocking roads.
The source said their identity cards showed they were from the Rescue Police Unit.
“The ministry [of interior] has reported them as deserters for almost a year now but did not know that they had joined al-Qaeda until yesterday,” said the source.
The deserters, the source said, admitted they were fighting alongside al-Qaeda militants in Qaifa district, a militant stronghold southeast of the capital where the government has launched military offensive against during the last three days.
The source identified one deserter as Muhammed Abdulkareem al-Hadi, 25 from Amran province, who left his unit in al-Baitha’a province a year ago.
The other one was identified as Hamood Ahmed al-Hadi, 27, from Amran province, who left his unit in Lahj province.
The source said that the wounds they received were not critical.
“They [deserters] are now shackled to their beds,” the source said, “and are now being kept under surveillance.”
