Al Qaeda says killing soldiers was to take revenge for killing its leader, Al Shaddadi

Al Qaeda says killing soldiers was to take revenge for killing its leader Al Shaddadi 

By Nasser Arrabyee,20/10/2012

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack of Friday that killed and injured more than 30 soldiers of a military base in the coastal of Shuqrah of Abyan province. 

In a short statement sent as SMS to cell phones of some journalists late Friday, a group calling themselves "Ansar Al Sharyah" said the attack of Friday on brigade 115 was in retaliation for the leader Nader Al Shaddadi and eight others of his companions.

The brigade 115 is located 10 km east of the coastal town of Shuqrah, and it is surrounded by walls. It main gate can be opened easily by removing a piece of iron hanging over two empty barrels.

Earlier this year Al Qaeda killed more  than 90 soldiers and arrested  50 others from the same brigade 115 which was based in Dawfas at the outskirts of Zinjubar.   Before  being sent to Dawfas, the brigade 115 was based in Al Jawf province where Al Houthi Islah militants attacked it and looted its equipments. 

Late Friday, medical sources said that the death toll had  raised to 34 soldiers and 27 others were injured some of them seriously. 

Earlier in the day, at  least 14 soldiers and 12 Al Qaeda operatives were killed early morning Friday when Al Qaeda suicide bombers  attacked  a military base in south Yemen, said military and local sources.

The attack started at dawn of Friday when five suicide bombers from Al Qaeda infiltrated into the command of the brigade 115 which is based about 10 km east of Shuqrah town  of the southern province of Abyan, the sources said.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves  up and the three others were killed in clashes with the  soldiers and commanders in the building of the command.

A group of Al Qaeda operatives were helping the suicide bombers from the direction of the sea by firing at the base, the sources said. 

The commander of operations of the brigade, colonel Saleh Al Dahma, and colonel Mohammed Saleh Al Muhaya, and another colonel named Al Maleh, were among those 14 killed inside the building of the command of the brigade, the military sources said. 

In addition to the five suicide bombers who were all killed, seven dead bodies of Al Qaeda attackers were found around the base, local sources said. 

The military sources said that Al Qaeda operatives who were around the base were forced to escape by strong confrontation from the forces of the brigade.

Sources from Al Razi hospital in Jaar said that they received more than 20 injured soldiers after the attack of Friday. 

The ministry of defense on its website said later on Friday that A number of individuals of the brigade 115 were "martyred and injured". ( no specific number).

The heroes of brigade 115 killed all the attacking terrorists, eight of them were wearing military uniforms. The Ministry also said that the attackers  used a car bomb that exploded nearby a big room of soldiers inside the base. The statement described the operation ad "a terrorist and treacherous"