Al-Qaeda-linked militants on Sunday pulled out peacefully from Azan, al-Qaeda stronghold in the southeastern Yemeni province of Shabwa after a tribal committee, comprised of tribal chiefs and dignitaries from the province, managed to persuade them to withdraw in order to spare Azan war and bloodshed, local source told al-Masdar news website.
Yaslam Bajnoub, a member in the tribal committee, said the tribal committees have taken over the checkpoints in and at the entrances of the town after the militants withdrew completely from the town, which had been under the militants' control for months.

Realizing that the government is resolved this time to eliminate the terrorists and push them out from Azan, a tribal committee was formed on Saturday with the aim of sparing their town from carnage and destruction which were absolutely going to take place as the government was planning to storm Azan and recapture it from the terror network.
The committee was formed a day after the armed forces regained control of Abyan completely after the militant group held it for over a year.
Locals from Azan confirmed to the website that al-Qaeda militants withdrew completely from the town and that they saw trucks carrying them leaving the town.
They said that the militants started last night surrendering the town to tribal committees which will take up the role of preserving security.
On Sunday, soldiers were seen manning the main intersections in the capital of Sana'a and searching every car in a bid to foil any retaliatory al-Qaeda attack. Female soldiers were available to search women as al-Qaeda militants have reportedly used women's clothes before to infiltrate military checkpoints in Abyan.
The terror network had threatened that it would move the war to the capital and that it would chase crusaders to their cities and palaces after its elements were defeated and dislodged from Abyan.