16 Al Qaeda suspects stand trial
By Nasser Arrabyee/11/03/2009

A group of 16 Al Qaeda suspects including four Syrians one Saudi were put on trial Wednesday on charges of being involved in a series of terrorist attacks in Yemen.


The prosecutor, Rajeha Zaid, accused the men of having implemented a total of 13 armed terrorist operations during 2008, in including killing two Belgian tourists in Hudhramout , and failed attacks on the US and Italian embassies in Sana'a.


The prosecutor said the group, most of them in their 20s, was formed by Hamaza Al Quaiti, the alleged AlQaeda leader who was killed in one of those operations in August 11, 2008.

Some of those young men returned from Iraq to do Jihad in Yemen according to Fatwas from Al Quaiti who escaped along with 22 others from a maximum security prison in Sana'a early 2006.

The prosecutor showed the State Security Court, chaired by Judge Muhsen Alwan, weapons and ammunitions confiscated from the group including explosive belts, mortars, RPGs, TNT, and hand grenades. Two of them were accused bringing money from Saudi Arabia according to orders from their leader Al Quaiti.

All the 16 defendants denied the charges when the Judge asked them one by one. They were also shouting "Allah is greater, Allah is greater," from behind the bars.


The defendants were identified as Rawai Hamed Al Saeri,22, Haithem Sa'ad, 21, Khaled batis,32, Husam Al Amoudi,25, Sultan Al Saeri,25, Ali Al Akbari, 24, Mohamed Ba Awaidhan,26, Saeed Sankar,24, Mohammed Al Wahaibi (Syrian), 25, Mahmoud Derwish (Syrian),23, Mohammed Al Mash-hrani (Syrian), 30, Adnan Al Shati (Syrian) 20, Abdullah Ba Wazeer (Saudi of Yemeni origin) 27, Jamal Jaber,26, Ahmed Ba Ghozwan,35, Mused Al Nahdi,40,.

Yemen chases twelve would-be suicide bombers good article.

By Nasser Arrabyee/19/03/2009

The Yemen Ministry of Interior published Thursday the photos of twelve young men saying they were recruited to Al Qaeda recently to carry out terrorist acts and suicide bombings

The ministry announced an unspecified reward for information leading to the capture of all or any one of them. From the pictures published by the government papers, most of the alleged terrorists look under 20 years old.

The ministry also warned from any help given to these terrorists or covering them saying this will be a crime punishable by law.

The step came after two suicides bombing over the last week, one of them targeted a group of 16 South Korean tourists killing four of them and injuring four others in Shebam- Hudhrmout east of Yemen on March 15th.

The second targeted the South Korean delegation who came to participate in investigations over the killing of the tourists. This was nearby the international Sana'a airport on March 18th.

Yemeni clerics and leaders of political parties and civil society organizations condemned the two suicide bombings.

Such attacks will negatively affect the industry of tourism which supports the weak economy of Yemen.


The Minister of Tourism, Nabil Al Faqee, said his country had earned 800 million dollars from more than one million tourists who visited Yemen last year from Europe and Asia.

The Minister of Interior Mutahar Rashad Al Mesri, said the terrorist attacks will not stop Yemen from eradicating the terrorists with all means.

He said there are some religious schools and institutes which incite terrorism and violence and killing of tourists.

"We will dry up the sources of terrorism in some areas which publicly incite the killing of tourists," he said in a ceremony for launching of special security forces for safeguarding the tourists in Yemen.

Observers say the suicide attack show that terrorist activity increases and the government's measures to fight terror are not effective.

"Al Qaeda wants to prove by these two suicide incidents that it is still strong, that their activity will be stronger and stronger" said Ahmed Abdul Ghani, researcher in Islamic groups' affairs.


"The two terrorist attacks have shown that the security agencies here are weak and targeting the South Koreans come in the frame work of targeting the alliances of America in Eastern Asia," he added.

The suicide bomber of the South Korean tourists in Shebam-Hudhrmout, was identified as Abdul Rahman Mahdi Qasem Al Ageri, from Taiz province, aged 18 years.

According to security officials who searched his house in Taiz after the attack, he traveled to United States in 1995 with his mother and spent one year there.

And when he came back to Yemen, one year later, a man called Omar Muhsen Al Mahfali Al Raimi, recruited him to Al Qaeda.

Only two months ago he sent a relatively lengthy letter to his mother saying "I will not come back, but I'm on the right path and I'm very happy, regards to father and every one."