Convoy of armored personnel carriers moves in from Aden AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni military leaders have launched the final push to expel Al-Qaeda militants from Abyan, deploying hundreds of soldiers and armored personnel carriers as reinforcements. The APCs, armed vehicles and support trucks were seen traveling from the city to the nearby southern province. Brig. Mohsen Al-Wali, the general commander of Security Belt forces, said the reinforcements would boost operation “East Arrows” to battle the Al-Qaeda remnants, who are believed to be sheltering in the mountainous Al-Mahfad area. “Security Belt troops would tighten checkpoints in cities along with the General Security, as Support and Reinforcement (forces) would battle terrorism and pursue terrorist elements in the mountainous regions where they are hiding and attempting to undermine security," Al-Wali told Al-Ghad Al-Mushreq TV. BACKGROUND Al-Qaeda trained militants, planned assaults, and concealed captives in the mountainous highlands of Abyan and Shabwa. The Support and Reinforcement and the Security Belt groups are both controlled by the pro-independence Southern Transitional Council. Al-Wali said that Aden and other southern cities had enjoyed relative peace in recent months due to military operations in Abyan and Shabwa, which forced many Al-Qaeda militants from their long-standing safe havens. Pro-independence forces moved into the provinces in September in response to a series of deadly Al-Qaeda attacks against military targets and abductions of relief workers. Al-Qaeda trained militants, planned assaults, and concealed captives in the mountainous highlands of Abyan and Shabwa. For the first time in years, Yemeni troops were able to advance into mountainous and rough valleys in Abyan, such as the Moujan, Omaran, and Al-Khayla valleys, which have long been considered Al-Qaeda strongholds where militants freely train and recruit fighters and store weapons. The fleeing militants placed large numbers of landmines and improvised explosive devices in valleys and mountains to prevent troops from advancing into their strongholds. Dozens of soldiers have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in the Omaran valley. Al-Qaeda has been dealt a number of severe blows in Yemen over the past six years after military and security forces, trained and armed by the Arab coalition, swept them out of their key urban southern strongholds, notably Al-Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout, and towns in Lahj, Abyan, and Shabwa.