Somali fighters flock to Yemen to help al-Qaeda

A security source affirmed that hundreds of Somali fighters have took part in fighting the Yemeni government troopers alongside with al-Qaeda in the past few weeks.The security source said that al-Qaeda fighters captured Shugra costal town so as to facilitate the process of receiving al-Shabab fighters and to transfer them to Abyan and Shabwa where they receive training by al-Qaeda experts. A local source from Shugra said that over 500 Somalis arrived one day after al-Qaeda captured the port of Shugra. Also a Somali diplomat said that members of Somalia's Al shabaab fighters are fighting alongside with Al Qaeda in Yemen.Hussein Hajji Ahmed, the consul of Somalia's embassy in Yemen says that Somali young people are flooding to the strife-hit Yemen.Ahmed noted those Somalis coming to help and fight with Al Qaeda's branch against the government of Yemen as the western nations expressed a deep concern about the increasing Al Qaeda activities in that county.Those young Somalis are not refugees, said the diplomat who added that they are prepared in the Abyan to join Al Qaeda in the county.Ahmed spelled out that more Somali and foreign fighters from the Al shabaab rebel poured into Yemen after the group announced their withdrawal from the capital of war-torn Somalia.However, the group has already mentioned to have close to ties the Al Qaeda in Yemen.Yemen Observer