Al-Qaeda operatives have left Yemen to the neighboring state of Oman after they were attacked in South Yemen, an Omani newspaper said on Tuesday.
The newspaper quoted the Secretary-General of the Foreign Minster Badar Al-Boseedi as saying that Al-Qaeda operatives infiltrated to Oman and actions were taken to pursue them.
He further said that the Omani authorities have not arrested any infiltrators so far, asserting that Omani authorities are alert, pointing out that the they contacted with neighboring states regarding the issue.
Yemen's army backed by tribesmen managed to defeat Ansar Al-Sharia militants in attacks against their strongholds in South Yemen and some of the militants escaped to the Omani borders.
Yemeni media sources said that Al-Qaeda militants escaped from Jaar and Zinjibar to some valleys of Abyan and set up training camps there.
According to Akhbar Alyawam Newspaper, al-Qaeda militants set up a training camp in an areas close to Al-Mahafad district of Abyan, indicating that a Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al-Khaldi and a Swiss teacher Sylvia Abrahat were transferred to this area.
Meanwhile, Yemeni officials said Al-Qaeda militants implanted landmines before they fled from key southern strongholds, pointing out that they killed nearly 73 civilians over the past week.
Yemeni officials has made clear that engineering teams have removed some 3,000 land mines around the city and near the southern town of Jaar. The killed civilians were residents of the area.
The Yemeni army captured Jaar and Zinjibar after a two-month offensive to uproot al Qaeda fighters from large swaths of land they captured during last year's political turmoil.