Al-Qaeda in Yemen threatened on Wednesday to target the homes of officers and soldiers who took part in a government offensive that drove militants out of key areas of southern Yemen.
"We warn all military leaders and soldiers who took part in the campaign that their houses are now legitimate targets for us," said an online statement by the Abyan province branch of Ansar al-Sharia, another name used by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
"We advise their wives and children to leave their houses because their homes will be our next target," the statement said.
Al-Qaeda's threat came the same day that United Nations backed peace talks to end Yemen's civil war resumed in Kuwait between Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government backed by a Gulf Arab coalition.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has exploited the conflict to try and carve out a state in the impoverished country, where at least 6,000 people have been killed amid a growing humanitarian crisis.
Al-Qaeda fighters remain in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan province. But the offensive launched by the government last month, backed by coalition firepower, drove AQAP from the key southeastern city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province, and other coastal areas.
