Al Qaeda kills two tribesmen in Aden, the south of Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee,30/03/2012

Two tribesmen were shot dead by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda fighters in the southern city of Aden, said eyewitnesses Friday.

Khaled Jamal Mohammed Ashal, Abdullah Ahmed Nasser Ashal were killed immediately after they finished the Friday sermons in Shaikh Othman area, in Aden city, the witnesses said.

The two  dead men were working as bodyguards with the vice chairman of the Islamist party in Abyan province, Mohammed Hussein Ashal, brother of the member of parliament Ali Hussein Ashal.

Ashal family has been in conflict with Al Qaeda militants for about two years  .
Ashal mobilized tribesmen from Mudia and Lawdar in Abyan province to fight what they always call " Saleh-made" Al Qaeda, in a reference to the former president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh.  

The family of Ashal, majority of them in the Islamist party Islah, always argue that there is no Al Qaeda in Yemen, and it is only Saleh  who makes it to use it as a scarecrow to get money from the west.

Al Qaeda, a  real  and increasing threat in Yemen, expanded a lot during the last year's protests.