Reports: US Troops Pulling Out Of Yemen

By Sky News US Team

Some 100 US troops, including specials forces commandos, have begun pulling out of Yemen amid worsening security concerns, according to US media reports.

The troops are the last of the US forces deployed to Yemen to conduct operations against al Qaeda and allied groups.

Yemeni military and security officials told Associated Press the American troops evacuated al Annad air base near the southern city of al Houta, which was seized by al Qaeda militants on Friday.

CNN, citing sources in the region, also reported the withdrawal.

US officials have declined to comment.

The US has been waging a drone war against al Qaeda's branch in Yemen, which Washington considers to be the terror group's most dangerous offshoot.

The country has become increasingly unstable amid a power struggle between the Iranian-backed Shia rebels, known as Houthis, in the north and UN-recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Mr Hadi fled to the southern city of Aden in February after escaping house arrest in the capital Sanaa.

On Friday, suicide bombers killed at least 142 people in attacks on two Sanaa mosques frequented by Houthis.

A previously unknown Sanaa branch of Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the US said it was too early to confirm whether IS was involved.

That same day, al Qaeda militants killed 20 Yemeni soldiers during a brief occupation of al Houta.

Mr Hadi on Saturday gave a defiant speech challenging the Houthis, who he accused of orchestrating "a coup against constitutional legitimacy".

"We shall deliver the country to safety and raise Yemen's flag on Mount Marran in Saadeh instead of the Iranian flag," the embattled president said in his first televised speech since fleeing the capital.

The Shia rebels responded by calling for an offensive against state bodies controlled by the country's embattled president.

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