Rebels use SAMs to down Su-22 fighter-jets in Yemen

The opposition movement is said to have downed a fighter-jet from the Yemen Air Force.

"The rebels used surface-to-air missiles that immediately forced the pilot to eject, leaving the plane to crash," an opposition source said.

The source said the rebels were trained by defectors to operate several SAM systems, mostly shoulder-fired, short-range missiles.

The opposition said rebel forces destroyed a Russian-origin warplane from the Yemen Air Force. The combat aircraft was identified as the Su-22, a ground attack platform acquired by Yemen in 1980.

The aircraft was downed on Sept. 28 in Arkab by tribal forces opposed to the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Yemeni Defense Ministry has acknowledged the loss of the plane, but did not cite the cause of the crash.

The Air Force has been using the Su-22 and other Russian-origin aircraft to bomb rebel tribes in eastern and southern Yemen.

Western diplomats have asserted that the Yemen Air Force failed to use its Russian-origin fleet to quell the revolt. On Oct. 2, a Yemeni fighter-jet bombed an army position in the southern province of Abyan and killed at least 30 soldiers.

Source: Cairo - Monday, October 3, 2011 - www.worldtribune.com

(11.10.2011)