Al Qaeda returns to operations

Al Qaeda returns to operations

By Nasser Arrabyee,16/10/2012

Assassinated Iraqi officer was not working with Yemeni army, ministry says

12 Al Qaeda operative arrested 

Four killed and five injured by car bomb

The Yemeni ministry of defense said it had nothing to do with  the high ranking Iraqi officer who was assassinated earlier Thursday in a street of the Yemeni capital by two gunmen riding a motorcycle. 

The Ministry said in its website late Thursday that the slain Khaled Hatem AlHashimi was not working with the ministry of defense as media reports said. 

"The former officer of the Iraqi army was martyred in a terrorist and treacherous act," said the statement. The ministry did not accuse anyone or group, but said the investigations are still going on.  The slain Al Hashimi was hosted by Yemen after Saddam regime collapsed in 2003, the ministry said. 

Earlier in the day, two gunmen riding a motorcycle shot Al Hashimi dead in Bab Al Salam street, one of the most crowded place in the capital Sanaa.

Eyewitnesses told me that Al Hashimi was wearing a Yemeni military uniform with the rank of brigade  when he was killed.  Military sources also said that he was working with the defected general Ali Muhsen before he was sent to the ministry of defense to work there as an expert. 

Meanwhile, a group of 12 Al Qaeda operatives were arrested when security forces stormed a house nearby the main office of Yemeni intelligence in Sanaa , said security sources late Thursday.  

Some of those arrested were Syrians the sources said. The group was planning to attack the headquarters of the intelligence with the aim of releasing prisoners. 

In a separate incident, at least four people were killed and five other injured when a suicide bomber drove his car to a check point of anti-Al Qaeda tribesmen  known as popular committees in the southern town of Mudyah.

Local sources said that gunmen from Al Qaeda first attacked the check point of Al Kafalah, east of Mudyah, and when tribesmen assembled to retaliate a car bomb came and exploded killing and injuring at least 10 people. The sources mentioned the names of four killed and five injured.