Qaeda kills \\\'dozens\\\' after Yemen gets government

SANAA, Nov 8 (BSS/AFP): Al-Qaeda claimed its militants killed "dozens" of Shiite rebels in Yemen on Saturday, hours after the formation of a new government intended to take the strife-torn country out of crisis.
The cabinet was formed shortly before the UN Security Council slapped sanctions against influential former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two rebel commanders for threatening peace.
And in apparent retaliation on Saturday, Saleh's General People's Congress party sacked from its leadership Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, following accusations he solicited the sanctions.
Yemen has been dogged by instability since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising forced Saleh from power in February 2012, and the Shiite Huthi rebels and Al-Qaeda have sought to step into the power vacuum.
In the latest violence, Al-Qaeda claimed twin attacks that it said killed "dozens" of Huthis in the central region of Rada, where the Sunni Muslim jihadists have halted a rapid territorial advance by their Shiite rivals.
The new government was formed as part of a UN-brokered peace deal under which the Huthis are supposed to withdraw from the capital Sanaa, which they seized control of in September.
Though the Huthis, who are also known as Ansarullah, are not directly represented in the new government, six of their members are considered close to the insurgents.
Washington, which sees Hadi as a key ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, welcomed the new cabinet and encouraged the impoverished Arab nation to overcome partisan politics after the weeks of turmoil.
The US National Security Council called on all political actors "to continue to cooperate in the new government," according to spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.
"This multi-party cabinet must represent the strength of Yemeni unity over individual and partisan interests that may seek to derail the goals of a nation."