Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reports that the 80,000 residents of Lawdar, a city in Yemen's southern Abyan province, have fled to neighboring areas to escape fighting between government forces and operatives from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The government's campaign began on Friday, August 20, 2010, and has resulted in dozens of deaths, though there are conflicting reports regarding the fatality figures of both sides and among civilians. Access to Lawdar has been blocked off, and eyewitnesses described the city as a "ghost town."

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