The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council ( STC) militias have on Sunday taken control of the local market in Shabwah province, south-eastern Yemen, military sources said.

According to military sources in the province, the militias of the Shabwah Elite, loyal to the UAE, took control of al-Arm market in Haban district, after a violent attack targeting Islah militants in the directorate.

The sources added that the Islah militants fled in the face of the surprise attack.

The sources said the attack left a number of dead and wounded, including Bashir Mohammed al-Qamishi, a field commander in the Shabwah Elite militias of the STC.

The STC militias and Islah militants are engaged in fierce battles in most of Shabwah province’s districts after Islah militants took control of the provincial capital of Ataq in August 2019.

The clashes follow the arrest of some 115 al-Islah militants from the Southern Transitional Council militias on their way back to Shabwah after they received military training in Aden and Dhalea.