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US Airstrikes Kill Dozens of IS Fighters in Yemen


 FILE - A soldier walks past a black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants.
FILE - A soldier walks past a black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants.

The Pentagon says U.S. airstrikes on two Islamic State training camps in Yemen have killed dozens of Islamic State fighters.

The camps were in Yemen's al-Bayda region.

The Pentagon says IS used the camps to train militants to carry out terror attacks with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, and also subjected the fighters to endurance training.

"ISIS has used the ungoverned spaces of Yemen to plot, direct, instigate, resource, and recruit for attacks against America and its allies around the world," a Pentagon statement said, calling Yemen a hub for terrorist training. ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.

Islamic militants, including Islamic State and al-Qaida, have taken advantage of the chaos and Yemen's leadership vacuum to seize territory, adding to the desperation in one of the world's poorest countries.

Saudi-led airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have killed thousands of civilians and wiped out entire neighborhoods.

Food and medicine are in severely short supply, and the country is struggling with a cholera epidemic.

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