Tariq Afash gunmen kidnap local official in Mocha

TAIZ, Feb. 22 (YPA) – Militants belonging to pro-UAE military commander, Tarek Afash kidnapped a local official in the city of Mocka in Taiz province, southeastern Yemen, amid local and popular discontent.

According to a local source, the gunmen on board military vehicles pickups led by Ahmed Serqah, stormed the government compound building in Mocha and arrested the secretary general of the local council, Ansi al-Habbas, without any legal justification.

The source indicated that they had taken al-Habbas to an unknown location.

For their part, members of the local council in the Mocha district expressed their displeasure at the process, which they described as “degrading” to the local authority.

This comes six days after military forces belonging to Tariq Afash attacked the village of Al-Thawbani, east of the coastal district of the same city, with the aim of arresting a villager.

Sources said that two heavily armed groups attacked the citizens in the village of Al-Thawbani, following a verbal altercation between the gunmen and a resident of the village, Ben Rehan.

In late January, Tariq Afash’s forces in Mocha arrested businessman Jamal Abdo Mohammed Saeed al-Thabhani and took him to a prison that belonged to the so-called guards of the Republic over demanding  these forces to return  the looted property and land in the city.

E.M