Source: AP, By MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN,01/07/2010
NEW YORK — Al-Qaida launched its first online propaganda magazine in English on Tuesday, a move that could help the terror group recruit inside the U.S. and Europe.
The magazine, called Inspire, is being run by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, which has been linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S.-bound airliner.
The launch suggests that, as al-Qaida's core has been weakened by CIA drone airstrikes, the group hopes to broaden its reach inside the U.S., where officials have seen a spate of homegrown terrorists.
"This new magazine is clearly intended for the aspiring jihadist in the U.S. or U.K. who may be the next Fort Hood murderer or Times Square bomber," Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar and former CIA officer, said.
Tuesday's launch did not go smoothly. The magazine was 67 pages long, but all but the first three pages were just garbled computer code, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites and obtained a copy of the magazine.
The table of contents included articles such as "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," which promised to be "a detailed yet short, easy-to-read manual on how to make a bomb using ingredients found in a kitchen."
"We also call upon and encourage our readers to contribute by sending their articles, comments or suggestions to us," the magazine's introduction read.
At the heart of al-Qaida's propaganda effort is Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born cleric now living in Yemen. Authorities say his online sermons, in English, have inspired several recent terrorist plots in the United States. The magazine promotes an article by al-Awlaki titled "May Our Souls be Sacrificed for You." But like most of the magazine, the article did not appear in the version circulated Tuesday.
Until now, al-Qaida has relied on Arabic websites to carry its message. Now it appears to be capitalizing on its recent success recruiting inside the U.S.
Using propaganda on the Internet, the terrorist group has been able to attract Americans such as Bryant Neal Vinas and Najibullah Zazi, two admitted al-Qaida terrorists. Both were radicalized in New York and traveled to Pakistan to join the fight against the U.S.
In a recent terrorism case in New Jersey, prosecutors say two U.S. citizens watched al-Awlaki's videos on their cell phones and took inspiration in his call for smaller, single acts of terrorism.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Yemen, Russia discuss cooperation areas
Source: Saba
30\06\2010
MOSCOW- President Ali Abdullah Saleh met on Wednesday in the Russian capital, Moscow, with Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin.
The two sides discussed the bilateral relations and areas of joint cooperation and means of boosting them at the political, economic, cultural, and military and security levels, as well as developments of regional and international situations, including the situations in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa and efforts to combat terrorism and maritime piracy.
In addition to, they dealt with the Russian investments in Yemen and ways to increase them, especially in areas of energy, oil, minerals, fisheries and other.
Putin pointed out that the Russian-Yemeni relations are strong friendship relations, affirming the Russia's desire to boost them in the various fields and expand the joint cooperation, especially in the Russian investments areas in fields of oil, minerals and energy.
He reiterated his country's solidarity with Yemen to maintain Yemen's security, stability and unity, pointing out that Yemen can relay on Russia as a faithful friend, particularly to face any challenges related to combating terrorism, or prejudice to the unity of Yemen.
For his part, President Saleh praised the Yemeni-Russian historical relations, confirming Yemen's keenness to boost areas of bilateral cooperation at all levels so as to achieve the common interests of both Yemeni and Russian peoples.
Saleh also commended the Russia's supportive position to Yemen's security, stability and unity as well as its role within Yemen's Friends Group and its assists to the displaced people due to the insurgency war in the province of Saada.
"Russia has been always by Yemen in different circumstances", said Saleh.After the meeting, Putin accompanied President Saleh at the opening of the Modern Technology Exhibition for 2010, where he saw models of the Russian industries in the military and technical fields.
President Saleh arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a few-day visit to Russia.
30\06\2010
MOSCOW- President Ali Abdullah Saleh met on Wednesday in the Russian capital, Moscow, with Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin.
The two sides discussed the bilateral relations and areas of joint cooperation and means of boosting them at the political, economic, cultural, and military and security levels, as well as developments of regional and international situations, including the situations in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa and efforts to combat terrorism and maritime piracy.
In addition to, they dealt with the Russian investments in Yemen and ways to increase them, especially in areas of energy, oil, minerals, fisheries and other.
Putin pointed out that the Russian-Yemeni relations are strong friendship relations, affirming the Russia's desire to boost them in the various fields and expand the joint cooperation, especially in the Russian investments areas in fields of oil, minerals and energy.
He reiterated his country's solidarity with Yemen to maintain Yemen's security, stability and unity, pointing out that Yemen can relay on Russia as a faithful friend, particularly to face any challenges related to combating terrorism, or prejudice to the unity of Yemen.
For his part, President Saleh praised the Yemeni-Russian historical relations, confirming Yemen's keenness to boost areas of bilateral cooperation at all levels so as to achieve the common interests of both Yemeni and Russian peoples.
Saleh also commended the Russia's supportive position to Yemen's security, stability and unity as well as its role within Yemen's Friends Group and its assists to the displaced people due to the insurgency war in the province of Saada.
"Russia has been always by Yemen in different circumstances", said Saleh.After the meeting, Putin accompanied President Saleh at the opening of the Modern Technology Exhibition for 2010, where he saw models of the Russian industries in the military and technical fields.
President Saleh arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a few-day visit to Russia.
Putin to attend engineering forum, meet with Yemeni president
Source : RIA Novosti, 30/06/2010
Moscow- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday attend an international engineering forum in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow, where he will meet with world leaders and executives.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Siemens CEO Peter Loescher are expected to attend Engineering Technologies 2010.
The forum will run from June 30 to July 4. It will show the capabilities and prospects of the Russian machine-building industry.
Some 25 conferences and round tables involving over 1,500 delegates from Russian and foreign companies will be held.
Abdullah has good reason to attend the event: 90% of military hardware in the Yemeni armed forces was made in the former Soviet Union, and the country's air forcefleet consists of Soviet-made aircraft.
Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, a deputy director of Russia's Federal Service on Military and Technical Cooperation, told RIA Novosti in early June that contracts on the supplies of Russian armored vehicles, small arms and ammunition to Yemen are implemented as planned.
Many industrial and social facilities in southern Yemen were built with support from the Soviet Union.
Russia also delivers humanitarian aid to Yemen as the country is currently fighting al Qaeda militants and has to deal with Shiite rebels in the north and separatists in the south.
A recently agreed aid package includes tents, mobile power plants, blankets, canned food and sugar.
MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti)
Moscow- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday attend an international engineering forum in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow, where he will meet with world leaders and executives.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Siemens CEO Peter Loescher are expected to attend Engineering Technologies 2010.
The forum will run from June 30 to July 4. It will show the capabilities and prospects of the Russian machine-building industry.
Some 25 conferences and round tables involving over 1,500 delegates from Russian and foreign companies will be held.
Abdullah has good reason to attend the event: 90% of military hardware in the Yemeni armed forces was made in the former Soviet Union, and the country's air forcefleet consists of Soviet-made aircraft.
Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, a deputy director of Russia's Federal Service on Military and Technical Cooperation, told RIA Novosti in early June that contracts on the supplies of Russian armored vehicles, small arms and ammunition to Yemen are implemented as planned.
Many industrial and social facilities in southern Yemen were built with support from the Soviet Union.
Russia also delivers humanitarian aid to Yemen as the country is currently fighting al Qaeda militants and has to deal with Shiite rebels in the north and separatists in the south.
A recently agreed aid package includes tents, mobile power plants, blankets, canned food and sugar.
MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti)
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Yemen sentences eight to death for drug smuggling
Source: Reuters, 30/06/2010
A Yemeni court sentenced five Yemeni and three African men to death on Tuesday for smuggling 1.7 tonnes of drugs into the Arabian Peninsula country, the state news agency Saba reported.
In a separate case, the court in the southeastern province of Hadramout handed jail terms of 12 years each against six Somalis convicted of piracy, the agency said.
The three Africans sentenced to death were from Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia, Saba added, without saying what kind of drugs they had smuggled.
Yemen has stepped up security measures as it faces Shi'ite rebels in the north, separatists in the south and a resurgent wing of al Qaeda, which in December claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; writing by Firouz Sedarat; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Song and dance in a Yemeni jail
Source:Asia Times Online
By:Oliver Holmes
29\06\2010
SANA'A - Jamie Mearns, a 35-year-old Scot who traveled to Yemen to learn Arabic, found himself in prison with high-level al-Qaeda members when he was arrested for not renewing his visa.
Mearns told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview that he had also spent some of his incarceration with members of the Houthi rebel movement, a militant Shi'ite sect that has been fighting the Yemeni government since 2004.
On May 1, Mearns and two Malaysian friends, also Arabic-language students, took a day trip out of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a to visit friends and chew qat, a mildly narcotic leaf used at social occasions in Yemen. They were told there would be nocheckpoints and so didn't get the necessary documents from the tourism police to travel. They did decide to take their passports.
On the way back, their driver wanted to take a faster route. They passed a checkpoint and were arrested. Mearns' visa had expired, although his Arabic language school had told him that he did not need to renew it as he would only have to pay a small fine at the airport when he left.
"I spent a month in prison for an expired visa. When I arrived, I started asking people why they were there. Some said they were al-Qaeda and some said they were Houthis," he said. Mearns was not allowed to make any telephone calls, even to the British Embassy in Sana'a, during his one-month stay.
"I wasn't in a criminal prison, I was with suspected terrorists," he said.
Prison life with al-Qaeda
Although some of the inmates told him they had killed and beheaded people, he did not fear the members of al-Qaeda would harm him as he had converted to Islam three years ago. Mearns said he often met high-level al-Qaeda operatives, including Jamal Ahmed Mohammed al-Badawi, a member of al-Qaeda suspected of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 US sailors in southern Yemen.
Mearns told Asia Times Online that he would spend time singing, dancing and Source:Asia Times Online
29\06\2010
SANA'A - Jamie Mearns, a 35-year-old Scot who traveled to Yemen to learn Arabic, found himself in prison with high-level al-Qaeda members when he was arrested for not renewing his visa.
Mearns told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview that he had also spent some of his incarceration with members of the Houthi rebel movement, a militant Shi'ite sect that has been fighting the Yemeni government since 2004.
On May 1, Mearns and two Malaysian friends, also Arabic-language students, took a day trip out of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a to visit friends and chew qat, a mildly narcotic leaf used at social occasions in Yemen. They were told there would be nocheckpoints and so didn't get the necessary documents from the tourism police to travel. They did decide to take their passports.
On the way back, their driver wanted to take a faster route. They passed a checkpoint and were arrested. Mearns' visa had expired, although his Arabic language school had told him that he did not need to renew it as he would only have to pay a small fine at the airport when he left.
"I spent a month in prison for an expired visa. When I arrived, I started asking people why they were there. Some said they were al-Qaeda and some said they were Houthis," he said. Mearns was not allowed to make any telephone calls, even to the British Embassy in Sana'a, during his one-month stay.
"I wasn't in a criminal prison, I was with suspected terrorists," he said.
Prison life with al-Qaeda
Although some of the inmates told him they had killed and beheaded people, he did not fear the members of al-Qaeda would harm him as he had converted to Islam three years ago. Mearns said he often met high-level al-Qaeda operatives, including Jamal Ahmed Mohammed al-Badawi, a member of al-Qaeda suspected of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 US sailors in southern Yemen.
Mearns told Asia Times Online that he would spend time singing, dancing and chatting when he was with the Houthi inmates. "I actually preferred staying with the Houthis; the al-Qaeda guys were boring and judgmental. Everything was forbidden in their opinion. Some were recruiters."
Al-Qaeda inmates told Mearns that Uthman Noman al-Salwi, the suicide bomber who failed to kill Torlot, the British ambassador to Yemen in late April, had been held in the same prison.
"He was tortured there. I think he was recruited by al-Qaeda in the prison," said Mearns.
"I was only interrogated twice by the prison guards, and all their questions had nothing to do with my visa. They wanted to know where I prayed, if there were any black Americans at my school and what type of Muslim I was."
"I said: 'I didn't get a list when I joined [Islam]. I thought Islam was a monotheistic religion'." Mearns said the interrogators were trying to find out if he was a Salafi jihadi, an ultra-conservative school of thought that supports violent jihad adhered to by al-Qaeda.
During his stay, he spoke to a Somali who said he was tortured and repeatedly electrocuted, and to a Frenchman who owned a pizza restaurant in Sana'a. He was told of two men from Cameroon who had been imprisoned there for 16 years without visits from their families.
After a month in prison, Mearns went on hunger strike for four days and finally on May 31 he received a visit from a British Embassy official. The next day he was deported.
"My clothes were old and dirty, so I borrowed some from an al-Qaeda member before heading to the airport," he said.
Mearns said an embassy official told him that the embassy had not been informed of his internment until he stopped eating. The embassy in Sana'a refused to comment on individual cases.
Foreigners feel the pinch
There have been reports of 30 to 50 foreigners being arrested in Yemen over the past few months, among them citizens from the US, France, Malaysia and Britain. Jeremy Witter, a 23-year-old French citizen and Arabic-language student suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, was arrested in late May. Analysts say al-Qaeda in Yemen wants to recruit Westerners who can easily cross borders without suspicion.
The Yemeni government has sworn to increase monitoring of language schools in the country in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a plane to Detroit. Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who studied Arabic in Sana'a, was arrested after his bomb failed to detonate properly. The Yemen-based arm of al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.
Foreign Arabic students are paying a hefty price for the actions of Abdulmutallab. Many have plain-clothed police standing outside their houses to keep an eye on their movements. Some taxi drivers also work as government informants.
Westerners have come under increased scrutiny in recent months. Police briefly detained two Americans in Sana'a for not carrying their passporta. Until recently, it was rare for police to arrest foreigners, who have been allowed to in the capital without identification.
"We were driving back home one night and the police stopped us," said one of the Americans, who asked not to be named. "They demanded our passports but would not let us drive home to get them. We were detained and then released later that night."
Back in Aberdeen with his family, Mearns is relieved to be home but is shocked at how long several prisoners he met, like the Somali and the two men from Cameroon, had spent imprisoned without trial.
A few days after returning to the UK, Mearns received a call. It was his two Malaysian friends. They had been flown back to Malaysia after it was discovered they were not members of al-Qaeda, just over a month after they were arrested.
By:Oliver Holmes
29\06\2010
SANA'A - Jamie Mearns, a 35-year-old Scot who traveled to Yemen to learn Arabic, found himself in prison with high-level al-Qaeda members when he was arrested for not renewing his visa.
Mearns told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview that he had also spent some of his incarceration with members of the Houthi rebel movement, a militant Shi'ite sect that has been fighting the Yemeni government since 2004.
On May 1, Mearns and two Malaysian friends, also Arabic-language students, took a day trip out of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a to visit friends and chew qat, a mildly narcotic leaf used at social occasions in Yemen. They were told there would be nocheckpoints and so didn't get the necessary documents from the tourism police to travel. They did decide to take their passports.
On the way back, their driver wanted to take a faster route. They passed a checkpoint and were arrested. Mearns' visa had expired, although his Arabic language school had told him that he did not need to renew it as he would only have to pay a small fine at the airport when he left.
"I spent a month in prison for an expired visa. When I arrived, I started asking people why they were there. Some said they were al-Qaeda and some said they were Houthis," he said. Mearns was not allowed to make any telephone calls, even to the British Embassy in Sana'a, during his one-month stay.
"I wasn't in a criminal prison, I was with suspected terrorists," he said.
Prison life with al-Qaeda
Although some of the inmates told him they had killed and beheaded people, he did not fear the members of al-Qaeda would harm him as he had converted to Islam three years ago. Mearns said he often met high-level al-Qaeda operatives, including Jamal Ahmed Mohammed al-Badawi, a member of al-Qaeda suspected of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 US sailors in southern Yemen.
Mearns told Asia Times Online that he would spend time singing, dancing and Source:Asia Times Online
29\06\2010
SANA'A - Jamie Mearns, a 35-year-old Scot who traveled to Yemen to learn Arabic, found himself in prison with high-level al-Qaeda members when he was arrested for not renewing his visa.
Mearns told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview that he had also spent some of his incarceration with members of the Houthi rebel movement, a militant Shi'ite sect that has been fighting the Yemeni government since 2004.
On May 1, Mearns and two Malaysian friends, also Arabic-language students, took a day trip out of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a to visit friends and chew qat, a mildly narcotic leaf used at social occasions in Yemen. They were told there would be nocheckpoints and so didn't get the necessary documents from the tourism police to travel. They did decide to take their passports.
On the way back, their driver wanted to take a faster route. They passed a checkpoint and were arrested. Mearns' visa had expired, although his Arabic language school had told him that he did not need to renew it as he would only have to pay a small fine at the airport when he left.
"I spent a month in prison for an expired visa. When I arrived, I started asking people why they were there. Some said they were al-Qaeda and some said they were Houthis," he said. Mearns was not allowed to make any telephone calls, even to the British Embassy in Sana'a, during his one-month stay.
"I wasn't in a criminal prison, I was with suspected terrorists," he said.
Prison life with al-Qaeda
Although some of the inmates told him they had killed and beheaded people, he did not fear the members of al-Qaeda would harm him as he had converted to Islam three years ago. Mearns said he often met high-level al-Qaeda operatives, including Jamal Ahmed Mohammed al-Badawi, a member of al-Qaeda suspected of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 US sailors in southern Yemen.
Mearns told Asia Times Online that he would spend time singing, dancing and chatting when he was with the Houthi inmates. "I actually preferred staying with the Houthis; the al-Qaeda guys were boring and judgmental. Everything was forbidden in their opinion. Some were recruiters."
Al-Qaeda inmates told Mearns that Uthman Noman al-Salwi, the suicide bomber who failed to kill Torlot, the British ambassador to Yemen in late April, had been held in the same prison.
"He was tortured there. I think he was recruited by al-Qaeda in the prison," said Mearns.
"I was only interrogated twice by the prison guards, and all their questions had nothing to do with my visa. They wanted to know where I prayed, if there were any black Americans at my school and what type of Muslim I was."
"I said: 'I didn't get a list when I joined [Islam]. I thought Islam was a monotheistic religion'." Mearns said the interrogators were trying to find out if he was a Salafi jihadi, an ultra-conservative school of thought that supports violent jihad adhered to by al-Qaeda.
During his stay, he spoke to a Somali who said he was tortured and repeatedly electrocuted, and to a Frenchman who owned a pizza restaurant in Sana'a. He was told of two men from Cameroon who had been imprisoned there for 16 years without visits from their families.
After a month in prison, Mearns went on hunger strike for four days and finally on May 31 he received a visit from a British Embassy official. The next day he was deported.
"My clothes were old and dirty, so I borrowed some from an al-Qaeda member before heading to the airport," he said.
Mearns said an embassy official told him that the embassy had not been informed of his internment until he stopped eating. The embassy in Sana'a refused to comment on individual cases.
Foreigners feel the pinch
There have been reports of 30 to 50 foreigners being arrested in Yemen over the past few months, among them citizens from the US, France, Malaysia and Britain. Jeremy Witter, a 23-year-old French citizen and Arabic-language student suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, was arrested in late May. Analysts say al-Qaeda in Yemen wants to recruit Westerners who can easily cross borders without suspicion.
The Yemeni government has sworn to increase monitoring of language schools in the country in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a plane to Detroit. Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who studied Arabic in Sana'a, was arrested after his bomb failed to detonate properly. The Yemen-based arm of al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.
Foreign Arabic students are paying a hefty price for the actions of Abdulmutallab. Many have plain-clothed police standing outside their houses to keep an eye on their movements. Some taxi drivers also work as government informants.
Westerners have come under increased scrutiny in recent months. Police briefly detained two Americans in Sana'a for not carrying their passporta. Until recently, it was rare for police to arrest foreigners, who have been allowed to in the capital without identification.
"We were driving back home one night and the police stopped us," said one of the Americans, who asked not to be named. "They demanded our passports but would not let us drive home to get them. We were detained and then released later that night."
Back in Aberdeen with his family, Mearns is relieved to be home but is shocked at how long several prisoners he met, like the Somali and the two men from Cameroon, had spent imprisoned without trial.
A few days after returning to the UK, Mearns received a call. It was his two Malaysian friends. They had been flown back to Malaysia after it was discovered they were not members of al-Qaeda, just over a month after they were arrested.
Yemen defuses bomb at governor's home
Source: Reuters
29\06\2010
Yemeni authorities defused a bomb outside the home of a provincial governor on Monday, which they said may have been placed by al Qaeda.
A Defence Ministry website said the remote-controlled device was discovered outside the home of the governor of Taiz, 250 km south of the capital. "It cannot be ruled out that al Qaeda was behind this failed terrorist attempt," the website said.
29\06\2010
Yemeni authorities defused a bomb outside the home of a provincial governor on Monday, which they said may have been placed by al Qaeda.
A Defence Ministry website said the remote-controlled device was discovered outside the home of the governor of Taiz, 250 km south of the capital. "It cannot be ruled out that al Qaeda was behind this failed terrorist attempt," the website said.
Monday, 28 June 2010
Will Al Qaeda and separatists in Yemen team up?
By Nasser Arrabyee/29/06/201
The Yemeni government arrested tens of Al Qaeda suspects in the southern coastal city of Aden after a group of gunmen, believed to be Al Qaeda operatives, implemented a brazen attack on the headquarters of the intelligence office killing 11 people before majority of the staff came early morning on June 19th, 2010.
The gunmen escaped unharmed after they killed everyone they saw in that supposedly maximum-security facility.
Does that unexpected operation mean that Al Qaeda is increasing in the south of Yemen where disgruntled groups have been demanding separation since 2007? And is there any relationship between these groups, locally known as Al Herak, and Al Qaeda?
Although Al Qaeda did not claim responsibility for the attack, the government arrested the mastermind of that operation only one day later and identified him as Ghawdal Mohammed Saleh Naji.
Ghawdal appeared in a video footage shown by some satellite channels beside Al Qaeda operative Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair who threatened in that video to retaliate for the government’s air strike that targeted an Al Qaeda training camp in Al Majalah, Abyan on December 17, 2009. Omair was killed one week later in another air strike which targeted a meeting of Al Qaeda leaders in Rafadh area in Shabwa.
For Al Herak, it is not yet at the stage of implementing such sophisticated operations even though it has adopted the violence as a way of achieving its goals. It’s not united as Al Qaeda. It’s divided into eight groups at least including two groups outside Yemen.
The most important and obvious common thing between these two entities who wish to control over the south is their hostility to the Sana’a regime .
“Al Qaeda and Al Herak are both opponents of the government , but each one of them has its own background, Al Qaeda is religious and extremist and is using violence to achieve its goals. And although Al Herak is using violence as well but not for religious reasons,” said Saeed Obaid Al Jemhi, chairman of Al Jemhi Centre for Researches and Studies, a recently established think tank concerned with the Islamic groups and Al Qaeda affairs.Al Qaeda is exploiting Al Herak but it is not allying with it. Al Qaeda wants to go deeper and deeper inside Al Herak to make it in its interests. If they failed to secede, Al Qaeda will remain as it is , and if they succeed, Al Qaeda will do its best to make Al Herak far away from the socialism and Marxism they were in the past,” Obaid, who is originally from Aden said.
Al Herak groups say those who were arrested after the attack on the intelligence headquarters were only their activists and that they had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, and that the government used Al Qaeda only as a justification to repress them.
The most influential group in Al Herak is led by the former jihadist in Afghanistan and a close friend of Osma Bin Laden, Tarek Al Fadhli who joined Al Herak early 2009 in his province Abyan.
Al Fadhli raised the American and British flags on his house in the capital of Abyan, Zenjubar, to tell the world he is not Al Qaeda member anymore.
The security authorities in Aden released on Tuesday June 29th, 2010, 8 out of more than 30 who were arrested in Aden after the attack on the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday June 25th, 2010, the security forces dispersed angry demonstrations after one of those arrested died in the custody. The security authorities said Ahmed Derwish died in the custody because of asthma while demonstrators say he died because of torture.
Local sources in Aden said that the security forces were looking for the top leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen Nasser Al Wahaishi . Al Sa’ada neighborhood in Khor Maksar in Aden was surrounded by security forces from all directions for three days after clashes between gun men barricading in some houses and the security men. Al Wahaishi was believed to be hiding in this neighborhood, which has a lot of sympathizers of Al Qaeda.
Tribal leaders and local authority officials have played an important role to contain the situation between the gunmen and the security forces.
The Yemeni government arrested tens of Al Qaeda suspects in the southern coastal city of Aden after a group of gunmen, believed to be Al Qaeda operatives, implemented a brazen attack on the headquarters of the intelligence office killing 11 people before majority of the staff came early morning on June 19th, 2010.
The gunmen escaped unharmed after they killed everyone they saw in that supposedly maximum-security facility.
Does that unexpected operation mean that Al Qaeda is increasing in the south of Yemen where disgruntled groups have been demanding separation since 2007? And is there any relationship between these groups, locally known as Al Herak, and Al Qaeda?
Although Al Qaeda did not claim responsibility for the attack, the government arrested the mastermind of that operation only one day later and identified him as Ghawdal Mohammed Saleh Naji.
Ghawdal appeared in a video footage shown by some satellite channels beside Al Qaeda operative Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair who threatened in that video to retaliate for the government’s air strike that targeted an Al Qaeda training camp in Al Majalah, Abyan on December 17, 2009. Omair was killed one week later in another air strike which targeted a meeting of Al Qaeda leaders in Rafadh area in Shabwa.
For Al Herak, it is not yet at the stage of implementing such sophisticated operations even though it has adopted the violence as a way of achieving its goals. It’s not united as Al Qaeda. It’s divided into eight groups at least including two groups outside Yemen.
The most important and obvious common thing between these two entities who wish to control over the south is their hostility to the Sana’a regime .
“Al Qaeda and Al Herak are both opponents of the government , but each one of them has its own background, Al Qaeda is religious and extremist and is using violence to achieve its goals. And although Al Herak is using violence as well but not for religious reasons,” said Saeed Obaid Al Jemhi, chairman of Al Jemhi Centre for Researches and Studies, a recently established think tank concerned with the Islamic groups and Al Qaeda affairs.Al Qaeda is exploiting Al Herak but it is not allying with it. Al Qaeda wants to go deeper and deeper inside Al Herak to make it in its interests. If they failed to secede, Al Qaeda will remain as it is , and if they succeed, Al Qaeda will do its best to make Al Herak far away from the socialism and Marxism they were in the past,” Obaid, who is originally from Aden said.
Al Herak groups say those who were arrested after the attack on the intelligence headquarters were only their activists and that they had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, and that the government used Al Qaeda only as a justification to repress them.
The most influential group in Al Herak is led by the former jihadist in Afghanistan and a close friend of Osma Bin Laden, Tarek Al Fadhli who joined Al Herak early 2009 in his province Abyan.
Al Fadhli raised the American and British flags on his house in the capital of Abyan, Zenjubar, to tell the world he is not Al Qaeda member anymore.
The security authorities in Aden released on Tuesday June 29th, 2010, 8 out of more than 30 who were arrested in Aden after the attack on the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday June 25th, 2010, the security forces dispersed angry demonstrations after one of those arrested died in the custody. The security authorities said Ahmed Derwish died in the custody because of asthma while demonstrators say he died because of torture.
Local sources in Aden said that the security forces were looking for the top leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen Nasser Al Wahaishi . Al Sa’ada neighborhood in Khor Maksar in Aden was surrounded by security forces from all directions for three days after clashes between gun men barricading in some houses and the security men. Al Wahaishi was believed to be hiding in this neighborhood, which has a lot of sympathizers of Al Qaeda.
Tribal leaders and local authority officials have played an important role to contain the situation between the gunmen and the security forces.
Yemen Jews demand execution of killer
Source: Middle East Online
28\06\2010
Jewish protesters call for speeding up of execution of Yemeni killer sentenced to death last year. SANAA - A small group of Yemeni Jews demonstrated on Monday in Sanaa demanding a final ruling against a Yemeni man sentenced to death last year for killing a Jewish father-of-nine in 2008.
An appeals court in Amran, north of the capital, had in June last year sentenced Abdel Aziz Yahia al-Abdi, 39, to death by firing squad for the murder of Masha Yaish Nahari, a member of Yemen's tiny Jewish community, in the town of Raydah, but the sentence must be confirmed by the supreme court.
Around 20 demonstrators gathered outside the supreme court and the ministry of justice demanding the speeding up of the court process, a media correspondent reported.
Justice minister Ghazi al-Aghbari told representatives of the demonstrators that the process was taking time due to the high number of cases being revised by the supreme court.
The appeals court had turned over a lower court verdict that ordered Abdi to only pay 27,500 dollars in blood money in lieu of execution after medical reports found he was "mentally abnormal."
Abdi killed his wife five years ago but was spared prison at the time when he was ruled to be mentally unstable.
Yemen's remaining Jewish community is made of around 400 people, most of whom live in the Amran area. In 1948, the country's Jewish community numbered some 60,000.
But in the three years following the creation of Israel that year, more than 48,000 emigrated to there.
The community continued to dwindle in subsequent decades and by the early 1990s it numbered only around 1,000 people.
28\06\2010
Jewish protesters call for speeding up of execution of Yemeni killer sentenced to death last year. SANAA - A small group of Yemeni Jews demonstrated on Monday in Sanaa demanding a final ruling against a Yemeni man sentenced to death last year for killing a Jewish father-of-nine in 2008.
An appeals court in Amran, north of the capital, had in June last year sentenced Abdel Aziz Yahia al-Abdi, 39, to death by firing squad for the murder of Masha Yaish Nahari, a member of Yemen's tiny Jewish community, in the town of Raydah, but the sentence must be confirmed by the supreme court.
Around 20 demonstrators gathered outside the supreme court and the ministry of justice demanding the speeding up of the court process, a media correspondent reported.
Justice minister Ghazi al-Aghbari told representatives of the demonstrators that the process was taking time due to the high number of cases being revised by the supreme court.
The appeals court had turned over a lower court verdict that ordered Abdi to only pay 27,500 dollars in blood money in lieu of execution after medical reports found he was "mentally abnormal."
Abdi killed his wife five years ago but was spared prison at the time when he was ruled to be mentally unstable.
Yemen's remaining Jewish community is made of around 400 people, most of whom live in the Amran area. In 1948, the country's Jewish community numbered some 60,000.
But in the three years following the creation of Israel that year, more than 48,000 emigrated to there.
The community continued to dwindle in subsequent decades and by the early 1990s it numbered only around 1,000 people.
Yemen's al Qaeda switching tactic to government sites
Source:Reuters
By:Raissa Kasolowsky
28\06\2010
A suspected al Qaeda attack on an intelligence headquarters in south Yemen shows that Islamist militants are switching their attention from Western targets to high-profile government installations.
In a bold assault last Saturday, gunmen killed 11 people at the southern regional headquarters of a Yemeni security intelligence agency that has been trying to staunch the country's worst separatist violence in over 15 years.
Yemen blamed al Qaeda for the attack in which gunmen wearing military uniforms raided the headquarters in the port of Aden. If confirmed, it would be al Qaeda's deadliest attack in Yemen since the bombing of the U.S.
Navy warship USS Cole in Aden harbour in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.It would also be one of just a small number of high profile al Qaeda attacks directly targeting Yemen's government, which earlier this year declared war on the group's Yemeni arm after it claimed a failed attack on a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
The United States has been helping Sanaa out in the crackdown, fearing its campaign against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan had prompted the group's hub to shift to Yemen."Al Qaeda now feels under great pressure in Yemen, not only from the Yemenis but also from the United States," said Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Centre.
"Its members are suffering from a sense of uncertainty and they have become very isolated ... This attack was a show of strength.
""They tried to deprive al Qaeda from the safe haven they enjoyed. We are witnessing a major shift here," he added.Yemen's Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia have long feared a resurgent al Qaeda wing could take advantage of rising insecurity and weak central control to use Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond.
Al Qaeda and the Yemeni government have clashed for many years, but the group's high-impact operations have typically focused on Western targets, such as a failed attempt to assassinate the British envoy to Sanaa in April.An al Qaeda attack on the U.S.
embassy in Sanaa in 2008 killed 16 people, including six attackers.Last year, an al Qaeda suicide bomber tried to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who headed an anti-terrorism campaign that derailed militant efforts to destabilise the kingdom between 2003 and 2006.
Al Qaeda later regrouped in Yemen.This month, Yemen's army shelled militant targets and fought gun battles in the al Qaeda stronghold of Wadi Obeida in the Maarib province that is home to much of the country's oil resources.
Tensions in Maarib have been high since its deputy governor, who was mediating between the authorities and al Qaeda, was killed in May in an errant air strike on the militant group.
The recent battles infuriated al Qaeda. A day before the Aden attack, al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to the state crackdown, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.
"God willing, we will set the ground on fire beneath the tyrant infidels of (President) Ali Saleh's regime and his American collaborators," the group said in a statement.After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Yemen joined forces with Washington in its fight against al Qaeda. But many saw the Sanaa government's approach to dealing with militants as half-hearted and ineffective.
Wanted suspects went uncaptured and foreign Islamists were able to attend training camps in Yemen's impenetrable mountains and deserts, where militants may benefit from tribal protection.
Some officials, including religious affairs minister Hamoud al-Hitar, say Sanaa should return to a policy of engaging al Qaeda in dialogue rather than just using force, which he said simply earned the group more public sympathy.
But after the botched December plane attack, for which Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged, Yemen escalated its fight, directly declaring war on al Qaeda.
Washington also stepped in by more than doubling defence spending on its cash-strapped ally and providing technical support."Yemen is still using the same policy as before, the carrot and the stick, but now it is using more force than before," Yemeni analyst Nasser Arrabyee said.
"What happened indicates not that al Qaeda are stronger than before, but that it is exploiting the situation in the south," he said, referring to violence between southern separatists and security forces. The so-called Political Security Organisation (PSO) building that was attacked presented an important and easy target.
It has been a major tool in Sanaa's pursuit of militants but its southern office has recently been busy dealing with separatism.
The same offices were the scene of a 2003 jailbreak in which 10 militants escaped, including suspects in the USS Cole attack. In 2006, 23 al Qaeda suspects tunnelled out of the PSO building in Sanaa including al Qaeda current leader Nasser al-Wahaishy.
"This was an attempt to exploit a gap in the Yemeni security system," analyst Ali Seif Hassan said of the attack in south Yemen, where security forces are distracted by a small group of armed separatists mounting a budding insurgency 20 years after unification of north and south.
Tied up with separatists, an undertrained and ineffective PSO may have dropped the ball on al Qaeda's presence in the south where militants hide out in often remote areas near centres of separatist activism.
"There is a kind of vacuum or fissure between the different parts of the security apparatus," Hassan said. "Al Qaeda is determined to exploit these cracks."
By:Raissa Kasolowsky
28\06\2010
A suspected al Qaeda attack on an intelligence headquarters in south Yemen shows that Islamist militants are switching their attention from Western targets to high-profile government installations.
In a bold assault last Saturday, gunmen killed 11 people at the southern regional headquarters of a Yemeni security intelligence agency that has been trying to staunch the country's worst separatist violence in over 15 years.
Yemen blamed al Qaeda for the attack in which gunmen wearing military uniforms raided the headquarters in the port of Aden. If confirmed, it would be al Qaeda's deadliest attack in Yemen since the bombing of the U.S.
Navy warship USS Cole in Aden harbour in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.It would also be one of just a small number of high profile al Qaeda attacks directly targeting Yemen's government, which earlier this year declared war on the group's Yemeni arm after it claimed a failed attack on a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
The United States has been helping Sanaa out in the crackdown, fearing its campaign against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan had prompted the group's hub to shift to Yemen."Al Qaeda now feels under great pressure in Yemen, not only from the Yemenis but also from the United States," said Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Centre.
"Its members are suffering from a sense of uncertainty and they have become very isolated ... This attack was a show of strength.
""They tried to deprive al Qaeda from the safe haven they enjoyed. We are witnessing a major shift here," he added.Yemen's Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia have long feared a resurgent al Qaeda wing could take advantage of rising insecurity and weak central control to use Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond.
Al Qaeda and the Yemeni government have clashed for many years, but the group's high-impact operations have typically focused on Western targets, such as a failed attempt to assassinate the British envoy to Sanaa in April.An al Qaeda attack on the U.S.
embassy in Sanaa in 2008 killed 16 people, including six attackers.Last year, an al Qaeda suicide bomber tried to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who headed an anti-terrorism campaign that derailed militant efforts to destabilise the kingdom between 2003 and 2006.
Al Qaeda later regrouped in Yemen.This month, Yemen's army shelled militant targets and fought gun battles in the al Qaeda stronghold of Wadi Obeida in the Maarib province that is home to much of the country's oil resources.
Tensions in Maarib have been high since its deputy governor, who was mediating between the authorities and al Qaeda, was killed in May in an errant air strike on the militant group.
The recent battles infuriated al Qaeda. A day before the Aden attack, al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to the state crackdown, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.
"God willing, we will set the ground on fire beneath the tyrant infidels of (President) Ali Saleh's regime and his American collaborators," the group said in a statement.After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Yemen joined forces with Washington in its fight against al Qaeda. But many saw the Sanaa government's approach to dealing with militants as half-hearted and ineffective.
Wanted suspects went uncaptured and foreign Islamists were able to attend training camps in Yemen's impenetrable mountains and deserts, where militants may benefit from tribal protection.
Some officials, including religious affairs minister Hamoud al-Hitar, say Sanaa should return to a policy of engaging al Qaeda in dialogue rather than just using force, which he said simply earned the group more public sympathy.
But after the botched December plane attack, for which Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged, Yemen escalated its fight, directly declaring war on al Qaeda.
Washington also stepped in by more than doubling defence spending on its cash-strapped ally and providing technical support."Yemen is still using the same policy as before, the carrot and the stick, but now it is using more force than before," Yemeni analyst Nasser Arrabyee said.
"What happened indicates not that al Qaeda are stronger than before, but that it is exploiting the situation in the south," he said, referring to violence between southern separatists and security forces. The so-called Political Security Organisation (PSO) building that was attacked presented an important and easy target.
It has been a major tool in Sanaa's pursuit of militants but its southern office has recently been busy dealing with separatism.
The same offices were the scene of a 2003 jailbreak in which 10 militants escaped, including suspects in the USS Cole attack. In 2006, 23 al Qaeda suspects tunnelled out of the PSO building in Sanaa including al Qaeda current leader Nasser al-Wahaishy.
"This was an attempt to exploit a gap in the Yemeni security system," analyst Ali Seif Hassan said of the attack in south Yemen, where security forces are distracted by a small group of armed separatists mounting a budding insurgency 20 years after unification of north and south.
Tied up with separatists, an undertrained and ineffective PSO may have dropped the ball on al Qaeda's presence in the south where militants hide out in often remote areas near centres of separatist activism.
"There is a kind of vacuum or fissure between the different parts of the security apparatus," Hassan said. "Al Qaeda is determined to exploit these cracks."
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Yemen builds coastguard base in strategic strait
Source: Reuters, 27/06/2010
Yemen is building a coastguard base on an island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait to protect traffic in the crucial shipping lane that links Europe and Asia, the Yemeni coastguard said on Sunday.
Yemen, at the forefront of Western security concerns since a failed al Qaeda attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December, boosted security at coastal facilities earlier this year to guard against possible militant attacks.
In February, the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a blockade of the strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel.
Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean also have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers.
The base will be located on the island of Miyoun -- previously known as Perim -- and construction began at the start of the year, a coastguard source told Reuters
Yemen is building a coastguard base on an island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait to protect traffic in the crucial shipping lane that links Europe and Asia, the Yemeni coastguard said on Sunday.
Yemen, at the forefront of Western security concerns since a failed al Qaeda attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December, boosted security at coastal facilities earlier this year to guard against possible militant attacks.
In February, the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a blockade of the strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel.
Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean also have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers.
The base will be located on the island of Miyoun -- previously known as Perim -- and construction began at the start of the year, a coastguard source told Reuters
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Yemen arrests 30 in al Qaeda hunt
Source: Reuters, 27/06/2010By Mohammed Mukhashaf and Mohammed Ghobari
ADEN (Reuters) - Security forces in Yemen's port of Aden have arrested 30 people during a two day hunt for suspected al Qaeda operatives behind an attack on an intelligence building, a security official and the Defence Ministry said.
Operations would continue after security forces swept door-to-door through Aden's Saada area on Friday seeking out suspected militants, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Yemen has accused al Qaeda of the attack last Saturday in which militants in military uniform raided the police intelligence building, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.
The security official said clashes had broken out before dawn on Friday. Police rounded up 30 suspects throughout the day, nine of whom were charged with al Qaeda links, while the rest were charged with participating in rioting.
One detainee died. Security officials said the man died from an asthma attack, while opposition website Sahwa Net said he died from wounds after being tortured.
The Defence Ministry said security forces had received information from a previously-detained al Qaeda operative, Ghodel Mohammed Saleh Naji, that those responsible for last week's attack would be holding a Friday meeting.
All participants in the meeting were held, the Defence Ministry statement said. Authorities said earlier they had arrested the head of the group behind the assault.
Yemen, neighbour to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since the Yemen-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
ADEN (Reuters) - Security forces in Yemen's port of Aden have arrested 30 people during a two day hunt for suspected al Qaeda operatives behind an attack on an intelligence building, a security official and the Defence Ministry said.
Operations would continue after security forces swept door-to-door through Aden's Saada area on Friday seeking out suspected militants, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Yemen has accused al Qaeda of the attack last Saturday in which militants in military uniform raided the police intelligence building, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.
The security official said clashes had broken out before dawn on Friday. Police rounded up 30 suspects throughout the day, nine of whom were charged with al Qaeda links, while the rest were charged with participating in rioting.
One detainee died. Security officials said the man died from an asthma attack, while opposition website Sahwa Net said he died from wounds after being tortured.
The Defence Ministry said security forces had received information from a previously-detained al Qaeda operative, Ghodel Mohammed Saleh Naji, that those responsible for last week's attack would be holding a Friday meeting.
All participants in the meeting were held, the Defence Ministry statement said. Authorities said earlier they had arrested the head of the group behind the assault.
Yemen, neighbour to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since the Yemen-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
15 Al Qaeda suspects arrested in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee/26/06/2010
About 15 Al Qaeda suspects were arrested in the Yemeni southern coastal city of Aden over the last few days, security sources said Saturday.
Some of those participated in the brazen attack on the headquarters of Aden intelligence on June 19 when 11 people including three women and a child were killed. And Some of them were arrested while meeting in an Aden house, the sources said.
“It was a swift raid based on accurate information, and all those in the meeting were arrested,” the state-run media quoted an unnamed security official as saying. The official did not say how many were arrested in the raid on the meeting.
Special sources said, however, about seven men were arrested in the meeting.
The official sources said that the security obtained the information from the leader of the group Ghawdal Mohammed Saleh Naji who was arrested last Sunday, only one day after the attack on the intelligence headquarters in Aden. Ghawdal and his group were also accused of plundering 100 million Yemeni Rials ( about half million dollars) from the Arab Bank in Aden late last year.
The official security sources described Ghawdal as a dangerous Al Qaeda operative saying he appeared in video footage with some of Al Qaeda leaders last December.
Ghawdal appeared in a video footage shown by Al Jazeera satellite channel beside Al Qaeda operative Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair who threatened in that video to retaliate for the air strike that targeted an Al Qaeda training camp in Al Majalah, Abyan on December 17, 2009. Omair was killed one week later in another air strike which targeted a meeting of Al Qaeda leaders in Rafadh area in Shabwa.
Local sources said Al Qaeda militants exploit the increasing tension between the government and the separatist groups in the south.
Sources from the separatist groups, however, say those who were arrested had nothing to do with Al Qaeda but they were only separation activists.
On Friday, the security forces dispersed angry demonstrations after one of those arrested died in the custody. The security authorities said Ahmed Derwish died in the custody because of asthma while demonstrators say he died because of torture.
Al Saada neighborhood in Khor Maksar in Aden is still surrounded by security forces from all directions until today Saturday after clashes between gun men barricading in some houses and the security men, according to local sources.
Tribal leaders and local authority officials have been trying to contain the situation, the sources said .
About 15 Al Qaeda suspects were arrested in the Yemeni southern coastal city of Aden over the last few days, security sources said Saturday.
Some of those participated in the brazen attack on the headquarters of Aden intelligence on June 19 when 11 people including three women and a child were killed. And Some of them were arrested while meeting in an Aden house, the sources said.
“It was a swift raid based on accurate information, and all those in the meeting were arrested,” the state-run media quoted an unnamed security official as saying. The official did not say how many were arrested in the raid on the meeting.
Special sources said, however, about seven men were arrested in the meeting.
The official sources said that the security obtained the information from the leader of the group Ghawdal Mohammed Saleh Naji who was arrested last Sunday, only one day after the attack on the intelligence headquarters in Aden. Ghawdal and his group were also accused of plundering 100 million Yemeni Rials ( about half million dollars) from the Arab Bank in Aden late last year.
The official security sources described Ghawdal as a dangerous Al Qaeda operative saying he appeared in video footage with some of Al Qaeda leaders last December.
Ghawdal appeared in a video footage shown by Al Jazeera satellite channel beside Al Qaeda operative Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair who threatened in that video to retaliate for the air strike that targeted an Al Qaeda training camp in Al Majalah, Abyan on December 17, 2009. Omair was killed one week later in another air strike which targeted a meeting of Al Qaeda leaders in Rafadh area in Shabwa.
Local sources said Al Qaeda militants exploit the increasing tension between the government and the separatist groups in the south.
Sources from the separatist groups, however, say those who were arrested had nothing to do with Al Qaeda but they were only separation activists.
On Friday, the security forces dispersed angry demonstrations after one of those arrested died in the custody. The security authorities said Ahmed Derwish died in the custody because of asthma while demonstrators say he died because of torture.
Al Saada neighborhood in Khor Maksar in Aden is still surrounded by security forces from all directions until today Saturday after clashes between gun men barricading in some houses and the security men, according to local sources.
Tribal leaders and local authority officials have been trying to contain the situation, the sources said .
Friday, 25 June 2010
Yemen police, militants clash during raid in Aden
Source: Reuters
25\06\2010
Yemeni police clashed with suspected al Qaeda militants in Aden on Friday, arresting several, as they searched for a group that had attacked an intelligence building there, a security official said.
World
The Interior Ministry put all its security forces on alert in the southern port city to prevent militants from entering or smuggling in arms to destabilize the economic hub of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
The security official said clashes broke out before dawn during a house-to-house search in Aden's Saada area, launched in an attempt to arrest militants behind the attack on the city's intelligence headquarters that killed 11 people last Saturday.
"Some suspects were arrested," the official told Reuters, declining to give more details.
New clashes erupted in mid-day, residents said.
The opposition Sahwa Net website said nine people were arrested overnight, one of whom had died in detention. Police officials could not be reached to comment.
Yemen has blamed al Qaeda's wing in Yemen for the attack in which militants wearing military uniforms raided the intelligence police building, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.
Authorities said earlier they arrested the head of the group behind the assault.
Yemen, a neighbor of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since the Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
The Interior Ministry "called on security bodies to tighten their grip on Aden's coast and to keep it under constant watch to prevent the infiltration of any terrorist elements into the city or the smuggling of weapons," the ministry website said.
The ministry "reiterated the importance of safeguarding Aden province, the economic capital of Yemen, from any terrorist act," the website added.
Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and cement a ceasefire with Shi'ite rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the country.
In the capital Sanaa, unidentified gunmen shot and wounded Abdulraqib al-Qirshi, an opposition leader who had returned home earlier this month after more than 30 in exile in Syria, a senior member of his Arab nationalist party told Reuters.
A day before Saturday's attack, al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.
25\06\2010
Yemeni police clashed with suspected al Qaeda militants in Aden on Friday, arresting several, as they searched for a group that had attacked an intelligence building there, a security official said.
World
The Interior Ministry put all its security forces on alert in the southern port city to prevent militants from entering or smuggling in arms to destabilize the economic hub of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
The security official said clashes broke out before dawn during a house-to-house search in Aden's Saada area, launched in an attempt to arrest militants behind the attack on the city's intelligence headquarters that killed 11 people last Saturday.
"Some suspects were arrested," the official told Reuters, declining to give more details.
New clashes erupted in mid-day, residents said.
The opposition Sahwa Net website said nine people were arrested overnight, one of whom had died in detention. Police officials could not be reached to comment.
Yemen has blamed al Qaeda's wing in Yemen for the attack in which militants wearing military uniforms raided the intelligence police building, killing seven security officers, three women and a 7-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.
Authorities said earlier they arrested the head of the group behind the assault.
Yemen, a neighbor of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a growing security concern for the West since the Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a U.S.-bound airliner in December.
The Interior Ministry "called on security bodies to tighten their grip on Aden's coast and to keep it under constant watch to prevent the infiltration of any terrorist elements into the city or the smuggling of weapons," the ministry website said.
The ministry "reiterated the importance of safeguarding Aden province, the economic capital of Yemen, from any terrorist act," the website added.
Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and cement a ceasefire with Shi'ite rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al Qaeda presence in the country.
In the capital Sanaa, unidentified gunmen shot and wounded Abdulraqib al-Qirshi, an opposition leader who had returned home earlier this month after more than 30 in exile in Syria, a senior member of his Arab nationalist party told Reuters.
A day before Saturday's attack, al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Is Yemen becoming a jihadist plotter's paradise?
Source: BBC
24\06\2010
Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has many problems, including a wild province that is al-Qaeda's home on the Arabian peninsula. But a US-backed military campaign against the militants may be making matters worse.
The Yemeni ambassador looked uncomfortable.
A small, affable man in a tan suit, Mohamed Taha Mustafa sat patiently at the conference table in London last week, while his country's woes were counted out in public.
Dwindling oil reserves, rising unemployment, a capital city that risks being the world's first to run out of water, a simmering insurgency in the north, a separatist movement in the south, and now a growing base for al-Qaeda in the tribal heartland in-between.
"Help us," said the ambassador when it was his turn to speak.
"Come and invest in our country, we have so many projects."
But I could see the Kuwaiti ambassador shaking his head. His country, he explained, could never forgive Yemen for not condemning Saddam's invasion, back in 1990.
"Oh for heaven's sake," whispered a fellow journalist. "They really need to get over that, it was all of 20 years ago."
But memories are long in the Middle East. Privately, Arab diplomats admit that as long as Yemen's soldier-turned-president Ali Abdullah Saleh remains in power, Yemen will never be fully rehabilitated by its rich Gulf Arab neighbours.
'Growing menace'
But Yemen is worrying them, and for good reason.
A few days ago, just after dawn in the steamy Indian Ocean port of Aden, a van drew up and four men got out, armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Within hours they had shot and blasted their way through the southern headquarters of the government's security apparatus, surprising officers at an early morning flag-raising ceremony.
Seven officers were killed, and a cleaning lady, two more women and a child, and the attackers left with a number of militants they had freed from the cells. Everyone immediately suspected al-Qaeda.
Reformed and reborn in Yemen in January last year, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has become a growing menace not just for Yemen's government but for others further afield.
Last August it dispatched a suicide bomber to Saudi Arabia.
Pretending to give himself up, he managed to get into the same room as the prince in charge of counter-terrorism, then detonated his hidden explosives.
In the end, he was the only one to die, but his masters in Yemen promised to send others and in December they dispatched Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to Detroit with enough explosives in his underwear to bring down a plane, if his device had worked.
Yemen suddenly mattered.
Tribal friction
So who are al-Qaeda in Yemen and how have they managed to build a base there?
AQAP is not very big. It has perhaps a few hundred dedicated members under arms, mostly Saudis and Yemenis.
Some have come back from years of incarceration in Guantanamo Bay, pretended to renounce violence, then slipped across the border from Saudi Arabia.
Others were involved in a mass jailbreak from a Yemeni prison in 2006.
Today they are to be found mostly in Marib, a restless tribal province east of the capital.
When I first went there in 1985, I was struck by the wild, lawless nature of the place.
Our taxi driver drove with a loaded pistol sliding around the dashboard, attempting to steer while he combed his hair and chewed the narcotic leaf khat, all at the same time.
Years later, in 2002, I suggested to Marib's provincial governor that Western governments suspected his province was harbouring a number of al-Qaeda leaders.
"Most unlikely," he replied with a smile. "We have complete control."
But later that week, when I took an escort of trusted tribesmen into a remote valley, I found evidence of the sort of heavy-handed government tactics that were turning tribesmen into insurgents.
An elderly farmer showed me the tailfin of an unexploded missile he said the air force had fired into his mud-walled house in its pursuit of the militants.
Now, eight years on, something very similar is happening
Urged on by Washington, the Yemeni government is engaged in a determined campaign to eliminate, or at least contain, al-Qaeda within its borders.
The CIA's unmanned aerial drone strikes have resumed, much to the annoyance of ordinary Yemenis, and government tanks and artillery have been shelling the houses of suspected militants.
Late last month an airstrike went badly wrong, killing Marib's deputy governor and his bodyguards, the very man who was trying to persuade the tribes not to side with al-Qaeda.
There was a furious reaction. The tribesmen blew up oil pipelines and brought down electricity pylons.
The president has had to order an official enquiry.
The truth is that in Yemen the tribes do not much care for al-Qaeda, but nor do they have much love for their government, accusing it - with some justification - of corruption and mismanagement.
Left to fester, Washington fears that Yemen could easily turn into a plotter's paradise, riddled with jihadist training camps.
And so the airstrikes and the largely unseen military campaign continues.
And when rumours spread that Yemenis are being killed on Washington's orders the tribes see red, making it easier for al-Qaeda to recruit, train and hide in this bleak, barren landscape.
24\06\2010
Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has many problems, including a wild province that is al-Qaeda's home on the Arabian peninsula. But a US-backed military campaign against the militants may be making matters worse.
The Yemeni ambassador looked uncomfortable.
A small, affable man in a tan suit, Mohamed Taha Mustafa sat patiently at the conference table in London last week, while his country's woes were counted out in public.
Dwindling oil reserves, rising unemployment, a capital city that risks being the world's first to run out of water, a simmering insurgency in the north, a separatist movement in the south, and now a growing base for al-Qaeda in the tribal heartland in-between.
"Help us," said the ambassador when it was his turn to speak.
"Come and invest in our country, we have so many projects."
But I could see the Kuwaiti ambassador shaking his head. His country, he explained, could never forgive Yemen for not condemning Saddam's invasion, back in 1990.
"Oh for heaven's sake," whispered a fellow journalist. "They really need to get over that, it was all of 20 years ago."
But memories are long in the Middle East. Privately, Arab diplomats admit that as long as Yemen's soldier-turned-president Ali Abdullah Saleh remains in power, Yemen will never be fully rehabilitated by its rich Gulf Arab neighbours.
'Growing menace'
But Yemen is worrying them, and for good reason.
A few days ago, just after dawn in the steamy Indian Ocean port of Aden, a van drew up and four men got out, armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Within hours they had shot and blasted their way through the southern headquarters of the government's security apparatus, surprising officers at an early morning flag-raising ceremony.
Seven officers were killed, and a cleaning lady, two more women and a child, and the attackers left with a number of militants they had freed from the cells. Everyone immediately suspected al-Qaeda.
Reformed and reborn in Yemen in January last year, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has become a growing menace not just for Yemen's government but for others further afield.
Last August it dispatched a suicide bomber to Saudi Arabia.
Pretending to give himself up, he managed to get into the same room as the prince in charge of counter-terrorism, then detonated his hidden explosives.
In the end, he was the only one to die, but his masters in Yemen promised to send others and in December they dispatched Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to Detroit with enough explosives in his underwear to bring down a plane, if his device had worked.
Yemen suddenly mattered.
Tribal friction
So who are al-Qaeda in Yemen and how have they managed to build a base there?
AQAP is not very big. It has perhaps a few hundred dedicated members under arms, mostly Saudis and Yemenis.
Some have come back from years of incarceration in Guantanamo Bay, pretended to renounce violence, then slipped across the border from Saudi Arabia.
Others were involved in a mass jailbreak from a Yemeni prison in 2006.
Today they are to be found mostly in Marib, a restless tribal province east of the capital.
When I first went there in 1985, I was struck by the wild, lawless nature of the place.
Our taxi driver drove with a loaded pistol sliding around the dashboard, attempting to steer while he combed his hair and chewed the narcotic leaf khat, all at the same time.
Years later, in 2002, I suggested to Marib's provincial governor that Western governments suspected his province was harbouring a number of al-Qaeda leaders.
"Most unlikely," he replied with a smile. "We have complete control."
But later that week, when I took an escort of trusted tribesmen into a remote valley, I found evidence of the sort of heavy-handed government tactics that were turning tribesmen into insurgents.
An elderly farmer showed me the tailfin of an unexploded missile he said the air force had fired into his mud-walled house in its pursuit of the militants.
Now, eight years on, something very similar is happening
Urged on by Washington, the Yemeni government is engaged in a determined campaign to eliminate, or at least contain, al-Qaeda within its borders.
The CIA's unmanned aerial drone strikes have resumed, much to the annoyance of ordinary Yemenis, and government tanks and artillery have been shelling the houses of suspected militants.
Late last month an airstrike went badly wrong, killing Marib's deputy governor and his bodyguards, the very man who was trying to persuade the tribes not to side with al-Qaeda.
There was a furious reaction. The tribesmen blew up oil pipelines and brought down electricity pylons.
The president has had to order an official enquiry.
The truth is that in Yemen the tribes do not much care for al-Qaeda, but nor do they have much love for their government, accusing it - with some justification - of corruption and mismanagement.
Left to fester, Washington fears that Yemen could easily turn into a plotter's paradise, riddled with jihadist training camps.
And so the airstrikes and the largely unseen military campaign continues.
And when rumours spread that Yemenis are being killed on Washington's orders the tribes see red, making it easier for al-Qaeda to recruit, train and hide in this bleak, barren landscape.
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
One German one Iraqi among four men to be tried for trying to kill British ambassador in Yemen
By :Nasser Arrabyee
/23/06/2010
Four men including German and Iraqi will be put on trial for being involved in the assassination attempt of the British ambassador in Sana’a last April, official sources said Wednesday.
The investigations with the four men have stared in the state security prosecution on Wednesday said the said the official 26sep.net quoting unnamed court sources .
One of the accused is the son of a German business man called Rami Hens and the other is Iraqi, the source said.
The British ambassador in Sana’a Tim Torlot survived an assassination attempt last April when a religiously extremist young man blew himself up in front of the convoy of the ambassador who on his way to the embassy.
The young man , who was later idenfitiedas Othamn Ali Al Selwi 22, killed only himself and lightly damaged one of the cars.
/23/06/2010
Four men including German and Iraqi will be put on trial for being involved in the assassination attempt of the British ambassador in Sana’a last April, official sources said Wednesday.
The investigations with the four men have stared in the state security prosecution on Wednesday said the said the official 26sep.net quoting unnamed court sources .
One of the accused is the son of a German business man called Rami Hens and the other is Iraqi, the source said.
The British ambassador in Sana’a Tim Torlot survived an assassination attempt last April when a religiously extremist young man blew himself up in front of the convoy of the ambassador who on his way to the embassy.
The young man , who was later idenfitiedas Othamn Ali Al Selwi 22, killed only himself and lightly damaged one of the cars.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Britain aids Yemen development with 150 US$
Source : UPI, 23/06/2010
Snaa’a-The British government announced it would deliver $150 million in aid to help Yemeni development, the Yemeni government announced.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth office announced that Alistair Burt, the British minister for the Middle East, arrived in Yemen for his first official trip to the region.
Burt said the bilateral economic and social ties between the British and Yemeni governments played an important role in the broader fight against terrorism.
"Working together to address these issues is the best way to defeat terrorism within Yemen's borders," the British minister said.
London said ahead of the visit that it was allocating $150 million to support the development of Yemen, Yemen's official Saba news agency reports.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, for his part, praised British support for democratic development in his country.
"The U.K.'s relationship with Yemen is of great importance to me and I am glad of the opportunity to discuss with President Saleh the common interests we share, including tackling the economic and social challenges that Yemen faces," the British minister added.
Snaa’a-The British government announced it would deliver $150 million in aid to help Yemeni development, the Yemeni government announced.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth office announced that Alistair Burt, the British minister for the Middle East, arrived in Yemen for his first official trip to the region.
Burt said the bilateral economic and social ties between the British and Yemeni governments played an important role in the broader fight against terrorism.
"Working together to address these issues is the best way to defeat terrorism within Yemen's borders," the British minister said.
London said ahead of the visit that it was allocating $150 million to support the development of Yemen, Yemen's official Saba news agency reports.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, for his part, praised British support for democratic development in his country.
"The U.K.'s relationship with Yemen is of great importance to me and I am glad of the opportunity to discuss with President Saleh the common interests we share, including tackling the economic and social challenges that Yemen faces," the British minister added.
British student held in Yemeni prison with al-Qaeda members
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
22\6\2010
Jamie Mearns, 35, from Aberdeen, said he was arrested at a checkpoint just outside the capital Sana'a when soldiers looked at his passport.
He said that despite repeated requests he was not allowed to contact the British embassy. He spent the whole month of May in jail without being allowed phone calls.
"My parents didn't know where I was for almost five weeks," he told The Daily Telegraph. "When I finally did meet a representative from the British embassy, they told me they had asked about my whereabouts but the Yemenis denied having any British citizens in prison."
After studying Arabic and working as an English language teacher in Yemen, Mr Mearns, who converted to Islam three years ago, had considered flying to Dubai to renew his visa, but was told by his Arabic Language institute that he would only need to pay a fine at the airport when he left.
On May 1, Mearns and another friend studying Arabic took a day trip out of the city but passed a checkpoint on the return trip and were arrested.
He said some of his fellow inmates were members of al-Qaeda, others Houthis, members of a Shia sect who have been fighting for more autonomy in northern Yemen.
"I couldn't believe where I was," he said. "My only crime was that my visa had expired and now I found myself sharing a room with dangerous people. Some told me they had killed and beheaded people."
Mr Mearns said he shared a cell with the former bodyguard of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who was killed while leading al-Qaeda in Iraq.
He also said he frequently met Jamal Ahmed Mohammed al-Badawi, a member of the al-Qaeda cell who helped plan the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors in the port city of Aden.
Despite being held for so long, he said he was only interrogated for a total of two hours, mostly over his religious views.
The authorities have been under pressure from America to take on al-Qaeda in Yemen since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called Detroit "underpants bomber", was revealed to have been trained by a cell in the country.
In the last few days of May, Mr Mearns went on a four-day hunger strike. On May 31 he received his first visit from a British embassy official. The next day he was handcuffed, driven to the airport and deported.
The British embassy in Sana'a said they did not comment on individual cases. Embassy officials believe there are no longer any Britons in custody
Monday, 21 June 2010
Letter writers tap vein of despair in refugee camp
Source : IRIN 21/06/2010
ADEN-“I arrived in Yemen in 2008 from Mogadishu,” the letter starts. Hawo Yousuf, 28, now in a refugee camp, spent her last money on having a letter written to inform the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) of her plight.
It explains that militiamen came to her house in September 2007. ”They hit [my husband] badly and wanted to rape me in front of him. He tried to protect me, but unfortunately they killed [him] with a big knife. I was seven months pregnant.”
After that she took her three children and left for Bosasso in Somalia’s Puntland region, from where she fled on a four-day perilous boat journey to Yemen. “The petrol ran out. We were at sea around 13 days… crammed in and ill-treated by the smugglers.”
In the end a passing vessel supplied the marooned boat with petrol and the refugees were finally able to continue their journey. However, after having been at sea for nearly two weeks the cries of the hungry and thirsty children became too much for the smugglers. “The smugglers threw two of them into the sea… I saw my kids dying,” Hawo’s letter said, concluding: “I hope you will consider my situation.”
Hawo currently lives with some 16,800 refugees (mainly from Somalia) in Kharaz refugee camp, southern Yemen, about 140km west of Aden.
Somali refugees receive prima facie refugee status in Yemen and UNHCR estimates that some 174,000 refugees live there.
The camp, an old military base, is flanked by mountains and barren desert, and consists of small clusters of brick houses and tents. Crisscrossed by dusty streets in the sweltering heat, the refugees survive thanks to World Food Programme aid and casual labouring jobs in Aden.
Somali refugees in Yemen, including in the Kharaz camp, are allowed to work, but the country is the poorest in the Middle East and ill-equipped to cope with large numbers of refugees.
Letters to the UNHCR and NGOs have proved to be a lifeline for some in the past.
“I consider those letters an extra call for help, an individual exercise through which refugees claim their rights,” said Rocco Nuri, UNHCR’s external relations officer.
A letter writer’s experience
Some 16,800 mostly Somalis live in Kharaz refugee camp, 140km west of Aden in southern Yemen
Only a few of the refugees speak English, so Somali refugee Jamal Ahmed Mohammed, 29, keeps busy: “I write around 20 letters a month… I remember specific letters because of the difficult life stories told in them. Most people in Kharaz are in a difficult situation,” he said.
Charging 3,000 YR (about US$15), or the equivalent of a month’s salary to most of the refugees lucky enough to find work, Mohammed gives voice to many of the residents who would otherwise not have a way of communicating their pleas and complaints.
According to the UNHCR’s Nuri, the letters are followed up with partner organizations supplying humanitarian aid in the camp.
“The most common request from refugees in Kharaz camp is resettlement to a third country,” said Nuri. “Unfortunately, resettlement is not a right and only the most vulnerable refugees are given priority.”
Many of the letters also refer to the limited help refugees get from the medical services in the camp.
“No shining future for our children”
A single mother of seven, Mumina Burale, believes her letter will help her. Her story is a testimony to the horrors of war. “We were attacked several times,” she writes in her letter. “My father [and] two of my brothers were killed; they were firing on them until their bodies were cut to pieces,” she wrote.
“In Yemen, although we found some peace, life is very difficult. [There’s] no shining future for our children.” After 12 years in the camp her frustrations are evident from her letter. “I am really fed up with such a life and don’t know what to do or where to go!”
Meanwhile, Nuri would prefer not to receive such letters, “because that would mean the refugees’ needs are being better addressed, and that living conditions are improving
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Yemen says it captured mastermind of deadly attack
Source:(AFP)
20\06\2010
SANAA — Yemeni authorities have captured the mastermind of a suspected Al-Qaeda attack on the intelligence headquarters in the southern city of Aden that killed 11 people, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
"The security services have ... (captured) the leader of the terrorist gang that attacked the intelligence headquarters costing the lives of intelligence agents, women and children," the ministry said on its 26sep.net website.
It identified the captured man as Goudol Mohammed Ali Naji, and said he was a member of Al-Qaeda.
Seven military personnel, three women and a child were killed in Saturday's attack in the port city of Aden, officials said.
Yemen's higher security committee, in an official statement, said preliminary investigations indicated the attack carried the hallmark of Al-Qaeda, the state news agency Saba reported.
The website said Naji had a long record of terrorist and criminal activities, and was involved in an attack late last year on the central bank in Aden in which 100 million riyals (460,000 dollars, 388,000 euros) was stolen.
Saturday's deadly attack was apparently intended to free prisoners, but authorities said none were in the building at the time.
Witnesses said the assailants were seen leaving the building in a bus, taking people who had been detained there with them, in what appeared to be a coordinated and well-planned operation.
There were no casualties among the attackers, the witnesses said.
Last week, the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula urged Yemen's eastern tribes to rise against the government and threatened retaliation for alleged air strikes in the area, the US monitoring group SITE said on Friday.
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Al Qaeda was behind Yemen’s bloody attack, top security official suspended
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/06/2010
The Yemen’s top security committee said that Al Qaeda was behind the today’s attack on the main office of the intelligence in Aden where about 20 people were killed and injured.
A total 11 people including three women and a child were killed in the attack which was implemented by group of terrorists at 8 am this morning in one of the security offices in Aden, said a statement by the country’s supreme committee on security which held an urgent meeting after the attack. The statement said the attack had the hall marks of Al Qaeda, vowing to pursue the attackers and arrest them and bring them to justice.
The statement did not say what happened to the attackers and whether they were able to free some of Al Qaeda prisoners or not.
Some eyewitnesses say they saw five attackers and that they (attackers) were able to free four Al Qaeda prisoners and escaped with them in two cars before the security forces came and surrounded the place.
Sources said that the director security of Aden Abdullah Kairan was suspended after the attack because he could not take quick measures to arrest the attackers who implemented their operation and escaped. The same sources said that the director of the political security in Aden Faisal Al Bahr, was in a vacation.
An expert on Al Qaeda affairs said Al Qaeda must have been behind the attack. “The attack has not only the fingerprints of Al Qaeda but also the stamp and signature of Al Qaeda,” said Saeed Al Jamhi, the author of Al Qaeda in Yemen.
“Al Qaeda wants to deliver a message that it is still strong and that it can hit in the maximum security places,” Al Jamhi said.
Earlier in the day local sources said 14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one child, were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
The gunmen , who were shouting Allahu Akbar, Allaha is greater, Allah is greater, targeted the daily parade of the soldiers in addition to the releasing their prisoners, the sources added. It was not clear whether the attacker could free some prisoners and escape with them.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
On Friday June 18, 2010, Al Qaeda called the tribesmen in Mareb to fight against the government and not surrender any member of them to the government which is “agent to the Americans”.
Al Qaeda was behind Yemen’s bloody attack, official statement
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/06/2010
The Yemen’s top security committee said that Al Qaeda was behind the today’s attack on the main office of the intelligence in Aden where about 20 were killed and injured.
A total 11 people including three women and a child were killed in the attack which was implemented by group of terrorists at 8 am this morning in one of the security offices in Aden, said a statement by the country’s supreme committee on security which held an urgent meeting after the attack. The statement said the attack had the hall marks of Al Qaeda, vowing to pursue the attackers and arrest them and bring them to justice.
The statement did not say what happened to the attackers and whether they were able to free some of Al Qaeda prisoners or not.
Some eyewitnesses say they saw five attackers and that they (attackers) were able to free four Al Qaeda prisoners and escaped with them in two cars before the security forces came and surrounded the place.
Earlier in the day local sources said 14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one child, were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
The gunmen , who were shouting Allahu Akbar, Allaha is greater, Allah is greater, targeted the daily parade of the soldiers in addition to the releasing their prisoners, the sources added. It was not clear whether the attacker could free some prisoners and escape with them.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
On Friday June 18, 2010, Al Qaeda called the tribesmen in Mareb to fight against the government and not surrender any member of them to the government which is “agent to the Americans”.
The Yemen’s top security committee said that Al Qaeda was behind the today’s attack on the main office of the intelligence in Aden where about 20 were killed and injured.
A total 11 people including three women and a child were killed in the attack which was implemented by group of terrorists at 8 am this morning in one of the security offices in Aden, said a statement by the country’s supreme committee on security which held an urgent meeting after the attack. The statement said the attack had the hall marks of Al Qaeda, vowing to pursue the attackers and arrest them and bring them to justice.
The statement did not say what happened to the attackers and whether they were able to free some of Al Qaeda prisoners or not.
Some eyewitnesses say they saw five attackers and that they (attackers) were able to free four Al Qaeda prisoners and escaped with them in two cars before the security forces came and surrounded the place.
Earlier in the day local sources said 14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one child, were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
The gunmen , who were shouting Allahu Akbar, Allaha is greater, Allah is greater, targeted the daily parade of the soldiers in addition to the releasing their prisoners, the sources added. It was not clear whether the attacker could free some prisoners and escape with them.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
On Friday June 18, 2010, Al Qaeda called the tribesmen in Mareb to fight against the government and not surrender any member of them to the government which is “agent to the Americans”.
14 people at least killed in a terrorist attack in Yemen’s Aden
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/06/2010
14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local and security sources said Saturday.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
The gunmen , who were shouting Allahu Akbar, Allaha is greater, Allah is greater, targeted the daily parade of the soldiers in addition to the releasing their prisoners, the sources added. It was not clear whether the attacker could free some prisoners and escape with them.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local and security sources said Saturday.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
The gunmen , who were shouting Allahu Akbar, Allaha is greater, Allah is greater, targeted the daily parade of the soldiers in addition to the releasing their prisoners, the sources added. It was not clear whether the attacker could free some prisoners and escape with them.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
14 people at least killed in a terrorist attack in Yemen’s Aden
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/06/2010
14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local and security sources said Saturday.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
14 people at least including 10 soldiers, 3 women and one children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence headquarters office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local and security sources said Saturday.
10 soldiers were killed and 9 others were injured in addition to three women and one child were killed in the attack, the sources said.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
10 people at least killed in a terrorist attack in Yemen’s Aden
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/06/2010
At least 10 people including soldiers, women and children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local sources said Saturday.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
At least 10 people including soldiers, women and children were killed in an attack on the Yemen’s intelligence office in the southern city of Aden by gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda militants, local sources said Saturday.
About five gunmen some in women’s clothes and some in military uniforms opened fire at the guards of the office of the Political Security in Al Tawahai area in Aden city early morning Saturday killing and injuring more than 10 people including women and children, the sources said.
No one from the attackers was harmed or arrested , but all they escaped before security enhancements surrounded the place, the sources added.
The attackers were trying to release prisoners but they failed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers arrived at the gate of the office at 7am in two cars and that clashes between them and the guards continued about one hour. RPGs were heard in the clashes.
The security sources said that the attackers had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda recently threatened in internet statements to retaliate for the attacks implemented by the government forces against them in various places in Yemen over the last few months.
Meanwhile, three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.
Friday, 18 June 2010
U.S. considers partially lifting ban on transfers of detainees to Yemen
Source:Washington Post
19\6\2010
The Obama administration is considering partially lifting its suspension of all transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, officials said, following a federal court ruling that found "overwhelming" evidence to support a Yemeni's claim that he has been unlawfully detained by the United States for more than eight years.
The case of Mohammed Odaini has become so pressing that senior administration officials, including the secretaries of defense and state, or their deputies, will discuss it next week. A White House official stressed that any decision "should not be viewed as a reflection of a broader policy for other Yemeni detainees."
"What isn't being considered is lifting, in a blanket fashion, the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because deliberations are ongoing.
The administration, though, may come under further pressure to quickly release Yemenis besides Odaini. As many as 20 more Yemenis could be ordered released by the courts for lack of evidence to justify their continued detention, a second administration official estimated.
The official said the government may have to periodically carve out an exception to its ban.
"There is a group of Yemenis who are going to win their habeas cases," the official said. "Some of them will not be as clear as this case, but some will be, and that poses a real dilemma."
Odaini's detention
Odaini was a 17-year-old student at a religious institution in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March 2002 when he accepted an invitation to spend the evening at a nearby guesthouse that he had never before visited. He ended up spending the night, and after Pakistani authorities raided the house overnight, they turned Odaini and a number of other men over to the United States.
The government argued "vehemently" that Odaini's presence in the guesthouse demonstrated that he was part of "the al-Qaeda affiliated network of a man named Abu Zubaydah," according to the court opinion. But a federal judge was unconvinced.
"The evidence before the court shows that holding Odaini in custody at such great cost to him has done nothing to make the United States more secure," wrote U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr., ordering Odaini's release in an opinion that was declassified this month. "There is no evidence that Odaini has any connection to al Qaeda. . . . The court therefore emphatically concludes that Odaini's motion must be granted."
Transfers suspended
In January, after a Nigerian man who had been in Yemen allegedly tried to down a Detroit-bound airliner, President Obama suspended all transfers of detainees to Yemen. A month earlier, Republicans had strenuously objected to the repatriation of six Yemeni detainees.
An interagency task force Obama created has cleared 29 Yemenis for repatriation and conditionally cleared 30 more if security conditions in Yemen improve. Most are likely to stay at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for some time. But Odaini's case presents a particular challenge to the administration, and to those on Capitol Hill who are opposed to any transfers to Yemen.
"This is a bad case to argue. There is nothing there. The bottom line is: We don't have anything on this kid," said the administration official. "The judge wants a progress report by June 25th. We have to be able to report something other than we are thinking about it."
In previous cases in which Yemenis have been ordered released, the government has appealed. But the administration official said it would be "unconscionable" to appeal in this case.
Two options
Odaini was recommended or approved for transfer out of Guantanamo Bay by various military or government officials in 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2009, according to Kennedy's judgment. But he remained at Guantanamo Bay.
The administration official said there are basically two options in the case: repatriate Odaini, the son of a retired Yemeni security official, or quickly find another country willing to resettle him.
The second option may be complicated, however.
Odaini's "strong preference" is to return home, according to his attorney, David Remes. And countries that have so far resettled Guantanamo detainees have accepted only those who had nowhere else to go and who wanted to be resettled.
There are about 90 Yemenis held at Guantanamo Bay, the largest single group by nationality among the 181 detainees held at the military detention center.
Administration officials fear that the Yemeni government, which does not control all of its own territory and is facing a terrorist threat from a splinter group called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is not able to ensure that released detainees will not return to the fight.
Advocates for some of the Yemeni detainees say they do not pose a security risk. Asked whether there are other cases as stark as Odaini's, his attorney, Remes, said he was "certain of it."
"Why the government fights so tenaciously to keep men such as Mr. Odaini in prison unless and until the government sees fit to release them is the great mystery of this litigation, especially since President Obama took office," said Remes, who represents 14 Yemenis held at Guantanamo Bay. "They seem unable to admit they've ever made a mistake."
19\6\2010
The Obama administration is considering partially lifting its suspension of all transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, officials said, following a federal court ruling that found "overwhelming" evidence to support a Yemeni's claim that he has been unlawfully detained by the United States for more than eight years.
The case of Mohammed Odaini has become so pressing that senior administration officials, including the secretaries of defense and state, or their deputies, will discuss it next week. A White House official stressed that any decision "should not be viewed as a reflection of a broader policy for other Yemeni detainees."
"What isn't being considered is lifting, in a blanket fashion, the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because deliberations are ongoing.
The administration, though, may come under further pressure to quickly release Yemenis besides Odaini. As many as 20 more Yemenis could be ordered released by the courts for lack of evidence to justify their continued detention, a second administration official estimated.
The official said the government may have to periodically carve out an exception to its ban.
"There is a group of Yemenis who are going to win their habeas cases," the official said. "Some of them will not be as clear as this case, but some will be, and that poses a real dilemma."
Odaini's detention
Odaini was a 17-year-old student at a religious institution in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March 2002 when he accepted an invitation to spend the evening at a nearby guesthouse that he had never before visited. He ended up spending the night, and after Pakistani authorities raided the house overnight, they turned Odaini and a number of other men over to the United States.
The government argued "vehemently" that Odaini's presence in the guesthouse demonstrated that he was part of "the al-Qaeda affiliated network of a man named Abu Zubaydah," according to the court opinion. But a federal judge was unconvinced.
"The evidence before the court shows that holding Odaini in custody at such great cost to him has done nothing to make the United States more secure," wrote U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr., ordering Odaini's release in an opinion that was declassified this month. "There is no evidence that Odaini has any connection to al Qaeda. . . . The court therefore emphatically concludes that Odaini's motion must be granted."
Transfers suspended
In January, after a Nigerian man who had been in Yemen allegedly tried to down a Detroit-bound airliner, President Obama suspended all transfers of detainees to Yemen. A month earlier, Republicans had strenuously objected to the repatriation of six Yemeni detainees.
An interagency task force Obama created has cleared 29 Yemenis for repatriation and conditionally cleared 30 more if security conditions in Yemen improve. Most are likely to stay at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for some time. But Odaini's case presents a particular challenge to the administration, and to those on Capitol Hill who are opposed to any transfers to Yemen.
"This is a bad case to argue. There is nothing there. The bottom line is: We don't have anything on this kid," said the administration official. "The judge wants a progress report by June 25th. We have to be able to report something other than we are thinking about it."
In previous cases in which Yemenis have been ordered released, the government has appealed. But the administration official said it would be "unconscionable" to appeal in this case.
Two options
Odaini was recommended or approved for transfer out of Guantanamo Bay by various military or government officials in 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2009, according to Kennedy's judgment. But he remained at Guantanamo Bay.
The administration official said there are basically two options in the case: repatriate Odaini, the son of a retired Yemeni security official, or quickly find another country willing to resettle him.
The second option may be complicated, however.
Odaini's "strong preference" is to return home, according to his attorney, David Remes. And countries that have so far resettled Guantanamo detainees have accepted only those who had nowhere else to go and who wanted to be resettled.
There are about 90 Yemenis held at Guantanamo Bay, the largest single group by nationality among the 181 detainees held at the military detention center.
Administration officials fear that the Yemeni government, which does not control all of its own territory and is facing a terrorist threat from a splinter group called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is not able to ensure that released detainees will not return to the fight.
Advocates for some of the Yemeni detainees say they do not pose a security risk. Asked whether there are other cases as stark as Odaini's, his attorney, Remes, said he was "certain of it."
"Why the government fights so tenaciously to keep men such as Mr. Odaini in prison unless and until the government sees fit to release them is the great mystery of this litigation, especially since President Obama took office," said Remes, who represents 14 Yemenis held at Guantanamo Bay. "They seem unable to admit they've ever made a mistake."
Al-Qaeda urges Yemeni tribes not to turn in network's members
Source: DPA 18/06 2010
The al-Qaeda network on Friday urged tribal leaders in Yemen not to turn over its fighters - also known as the 'mujahidin' - to the government, according to a statement published on Islamist websites.
The statement accused the government of killing 'the innocent people as well as children and women, under the pretext that some members of these tribes are wanted,' referring to the death of the deputy governor of Yemen's Marib province last month.
Jabir al-Shabwani and five of his companions were apparently killed by accident when his car was hit by a missile in an airstrike that was targeting al-Qaeda member Mohammed Saeed bin Jaradan in Marib, 190 kilometres north-east of Sana'a.
The statement urged the Abida tribe, to which al-Shabwani belonged, not to support 'the US agent (Yemeni President) Ali Abdullah Saleh.'
'Who kills your women and children? Are they the mujahidin or Ali Abdullah Saleh?' said the statement.
The Yemeni government has urged the handover of al-Qaeda fighters and threatened punishments for those who harbour the militants. Homes of al-Qaeda sympathisers have regularly been destroyed in recent times.
Al-Qaeda members enjoy some protections in Marib .
Yemen has stepped up operations against al-Qaeda since December, after the Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed plot to blow up a US passenger jet as it prepared to land on Christmas Day in Detroit, Michigan
The al-Qaeda network on Friday urged tribal leaders in Yemen not to turn over its fighters - also known as the 'mujahidin' - to the government, according to a statement published on Islamist websites.
The statement accused the government of killing 'the innocent people as well as children and women, under the pretext that some members of these tribes are wanted,' referring to the death of the deputy governor of Yemen's Marib province last month.
Jabir al-Shabwani and five of his companions were apparently killed by accident when his car was hit by a missile in an airstrike that was targeting al-Qaeda member Mohammed Saeed bin Jaradan in Marib, 190 kilometres north-east of Sana'a.
The statement urged the Abida tribe, to which al-Shabwani belonged, not to support 'the US agent (Yemeni President) Ali Abdullah Saleh.'
'Who kills your women and children? Are they the mujahidin or Ali Abdullah Saleh?' said the statement.
The Yemeni government has urged the handover of al-Qaeda fighters and threatened punishments for those who harbour the militants. Homes of al-Qaeda sympathisers have regularly been destroyed in recent times.
Al-Qaeda members enjoy some protections in Marib .
Yemen has stepped up operations against al-Qaeda since December, after the Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed plot to blow up a US passenger jet as it prepared to land on Christmas Day in Detroit, Michigan
Filmmaker fears she's on U.S. watch list
Sourcec:San Francisco Chronicle18\06\2010
The name "Laura Poitras" is familiar to Oscar judges, film festival juries, and security officers at U.S. airports. Poitras has gotten used to all three developments. It's what happens when you direct critically acclaimed documentaries that require spending months in dangerous areas of the Middle East.
First it was Iraq, where Poitras made "My Country, My Country," a 2006 film that focused on an altruistic doctor whom the U.S. military suspected of being sympathetic to Iraqi insurgents. Then it was Yemen, where over a two-year period Poitras filmed a former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, Nasser al-Bahri, who has said the 9/11 hijackers - whom he personally knew - were justified in killing Americans.
Poitras' profile of al-Bahri, "The Oath," opens theatrically today in San Francisco and Berkeley. Nearly every time Poitras travels abroad - which is often - she's stopped on her departure or return by U.S. airport security, who subject her to tough questioning and have forced her to miss flights. Poitras, who lives in New York, believes she's on an official U.S. government watch list, put there in 2006. (The Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose agents staff airports, don't comment on individual cases.)
"I have a file - I know somebody who had access to it," Poitras says in an interview during a visit to San Francisco. "There's an accusation against me, which originated in Iraq. But the government doesn't tell you what's in (the file). I've been stopped at the airport and questioned probably 25 times. They photocopied my papers for a long time - every receipt I had, my credit cards, everything."
By contrast, representatives of other U.S. government agencies (Poitras won't say which ones) have told the filmmaker they want to see her film because it "could teach them something" about the Arab world, Poitras says. "On the one hand, I'm tripping wires. On the other hand, the government is telling me, 'We really want to understand extremism, and the relationship between belief and action.' "
"The Oath" is the story of al-Bahri and his friendship with Salim Hamdan, the Yemeni man who became bin Laden's driver and was subsequently incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hamdan is al-Bahri's brother-in-law. At bin Laden's urging in the 1990s, the men married sisters. In the ranks of al Qaeda, al-Bahri (who's better known by his former nom de guerre, "Abu Jandal") and Hamdan were relatively low-level operatives. Yemeni authorities arrested al-Bahri in October 2000, and upon his release two years later, he essentially renounced his life as a militant, and says in "The Oath" that he feels guilty for recruiting Hamdan to al Qaeda.
Poitras is the first U.S. documentarian to spend so many private hours with someone who had such an insider's view of al Qaeda. Al-Bahri was bin Laden's bodyguard for three years. He has talked to CBS' "60 Minutes" for its profile of him, and numerous times to Arab news networks, but with Poitras, he allowed her to put cameras in his cab and film him frequently at home. Poitras calls "The Oath" a "psychological drama" of a charismatic man whose words veer from trustworthy to questionable.
Those who know Poitras, 46, know she has a history of taking leaps of faith. Twenty-five years ago, Poitras was a chef. Between 1986 and 1988, Poitras worked in San Francisco as a cook at Masa's. In her spare time, she took film classes at the San Francisco Art Institute. There, she met such instructors as Ernie Gehr and George Kuchar, whose experimental works inspired her in a new direction. The days of making potee lorraine ended abruptly. As a teenager, Poitras had juggled her love of food with her love of film.
"I was always doing art when I was growing up (near Boston), but then I really wanted to be a chef, but then I was always at the movie theater," says Poitras. "I started being a chef at 19, and worked my way up. I moved to San Francisco because it was a good food town. I was here and I was cooking and took a class at the Art Institute in filmmaking, and it was a way to process moving to a new city alone. But even though I was cooking really seriously - there's a limit in terms of expressive possibilities. I don't know that it rises to the same level as other types of art forms. So film became an outlet to talk about things that were darker. How to express despair with food? You wouldn't make the eater very happy. Ultimately, the goal is pleasure, which is kind of a limited spectrum of expression. And I fell in love with film."
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Yemeni court tries two Al Qaeda suspects
Source: AFP, 15/06/2010
SANAA — Two alleged Al-Qaeda members went on trial in Yemen on Tuesday accused of being part of an armed gang that killed nine people including military and security officials.
Mansour Saleh Salem, 18, and Mubarak Ali Hadi al-Shabwani, 23, who were arrested on December 11 in eastern Marib province, appeared before a Sanaa court that specialises in terrorism cases.
The pair are being tried for "participating in an armed gang which carried out criminal actions against military and security officials and members of the armed forces," according to the charges read out in court.
"The defendants used arms to resist men of the public authority who were responsible for persecuting and arresting them in Al-Shabwan in Marib province, killing two soldiers and a civilian and wounding five other soldiers," the prosecutor's statement said.
The two men were also accused of killing three officials along with their two companions while they were driving on November 3 in the southern province of Hadramut.
In addition, the prosecution alleges they killed one soldier during clashes with the Yemeni army when they attacked an army truck carrying weapons and ammunition in July.
However, the defendants denied the charges.
"Those are lies, we have nothing to do with all this, and this trial is null and void," Shabwani said.
The next hearing is due to take place on June 19.
Yemen, the ancestral land of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has also witnessed a number of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
In October 2000, Al-Qaeda militants on a small explosives-packed boat blew a hole in an American warship, the USS Cole, in the southern port of Aden, killing 17 US sailors.
SANAA — Two alleged Al-Qaeda members went on trial in Yemen on Tuesday accused of being part of an armed gang that killed nine people including military and security officials.
Mansour Saleh Salem, 18, and Mubarak Ali Hadi al-Shabwani, 23, who were arrested on December 11 in eastern Marib province, appeared before a Sanaa court that specialises in terrorism cases.
The pair are being tried for "participating in an armed gang which carried out criminal actions against military and security officials and members of the armed forces," according to the charges read out in court.
"The defendants used arms to resist men of the public authority who were responsible for persecuting and arresting them in Al-Shabwan in Marib province, killing two soldiers and a civilian and wounding five other soldiers," the prosecutor's statement said.
The two men were also accused of killing three officials along with their two companions while they were driving on November 3 in the southern province of Hadramut.
In addition, the prosecution alleges they killed one soldier during clashes with the Yemeni army when they attacked an army truck carrying weapons and ammunition in July.
However, the defendants denied the charges.
"Those are lies, we have nothing to do with all this, and this trial is null and void," Shabwani said.
The next hearing is due to take place on June 19.
Yemen, the ancestral land of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has also witnessed a number of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
In October 2000, Al-Qaeda militants on a small explosives-packed boat blew a hole in an American warship, the USS Cole, in the southern port of Aden, killing 17 US sailors.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Al Qaeda attack on Yemen's oil foild
Source : Reuters, 14/06/2010
Yemen has thwarted an al Qaeda plot to attack vital installations in a province that is home to much of the country's oil resources and a key pipeline that ferries crude to the coast, the defence ministry said on Monday.
The ministry's online newspaper said security forces had destroyed an al Qaeda hideout in the Maarib province and foiled a "plot on the verge of implementation to target economic and government installations and army camps."
It did not say what installations were being targeted.
Yemen, strategically located next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been a major Western security concern since a Yemen-based al Qaeda wing claimed responsibility for a failed December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.
Yemen's Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest to use impoverished Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond. They want Sanaa to resolve internal conflict and consolidate power.
Tension has been high in Maarib, east of the capital, since a Yemeni mediator who was also Maarib's deputy governor was killed in May in an errant air strike targeting al Qaeda, prompting clashes between his kinsmen and government troops.
The announcement that authorities had foiled an al Qaeda plot followed several days of gun battles between Yemeni forces and militants in Wadi Obeida, a suspected militant stronghold in Maarib.
At least one person was killed and around 20 more wounded in fighting and shelling in the area, according to the government. Tribesmen suspected of being aligned with al Qaeda later blew up a crude pipeline linking Maarib to the Red Sea coast.
Tribal leaders, however, have given higher casualty tolls in the government's assault, launched on Wednesday with the stated aim of catching suspected al Qaeda gunmen thought to be behind an ambush of a military convoy that killed a commander and a soldier.
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Yemen politician says next leader should be southerner
Source : Reuters, by Raissa Kasolowsky 14/06/2010
- Rising Yemeni opposition politician Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, seen as a potential presidential successor, says he is not aiming for the top job and thinks the country's next leader should come from the south.
Electing a southerner to succeed President Ali Abdullah Saleh when his term ends in 2013 could go a long way towards calming rising secessionist sentiment there, said Ahmar who like the president hails from the north.
"Us Yemenis in the north have to show those in the south that we are in favour of unity. We need to leave them (southerners) the opportunity to lead Yemen," he told Reuters in an interview.
President Saleh, in over three decades at Yemen's helm, oversaw the unification of north and south Yemen in 1990 and survived a civil war four years later that was sparked by an attempt from southern leaders to break away.
His current term ends in 2013 and Ahmar, a business tycoon whose criticism of the government over the past year has made him increasingly popular in Yemen, is seen as a leading contender to succeed him.
But Ahmar cited his tribal ties to the country's ruler as a reason not to pursue the presidency, saying those links could dent people's faith in him.
"Suppose Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar has gone and Hamid Abdallah al-Ahmar comes. ... People won't believe there will be change unless someone else comes," Ahmar said.
Ahmar belongs to the same powerful tribal federation as Saleh and the two share the al-Ahmar name, although they are not directly related.
He did not definitively rule out serving in Yemen's top post, but said it was not his aim.
MANY CHALLENGES
Secessionist sentiment in the south still simmers, with violence on the rise in recent months. But it is only one of many challenges in Yemen, which is also trying to cement a truce with northern Shi'ite rebels and quash a resurgent Yemen-based al Qaeda arm.
Yemen has been a Western security concern since a Yemen-based al Qaeda arm claimed responsibility for a failed December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.
Yemen's Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest to use Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond. They want the government to resolve internal conflict and consolidate power.
Ahmar dismissed warnings that Yemen, next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, could descend into chaos like nearby Somalia if its political situation remained unresolved.
Like many in Yemen's opposition movement, he said he was sceptical an unprecedented charm offensive launched by Saleh to woo opponents would yield concrete concessions on political and social reforms. But he said dialogue should be given a chance.
Facing spiralling violence and a deepening recession, Saleh said in May that a new national dialogue could lead to a unity government, and agreed to include northern rebels and southern separatists in talks, a key opposition demand.
Ahmar, who belongs to his father's al-Islah party that leads an alliance of six opposition groups, said he would launch a peaceful movement against any attempt by Saleh to prolong his rule after his term ends.
"The president has failed to run Yemen. In my opinion he doesn't deserve to have his term extended," Ahmar said.
- Rising Yemeni opposition politician Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, seen as a potential presidential successor, says he is not aiming for the top job and thinks the country's next leader should come from the south.
Electing a southerner to succeed President Ali Abdullah Saleh when his term ends in 2013 could go a long way towards calming rising secessionist sentiment there, said Ahmar who like the president hails from the north.
"Us Yemenis in the north have to show those in the south that we are in favour of unity. We need to leave them (southerners) the opportunity to lead Yemen," he told Reuters in an interview.
President Saleh, in over three decades at Yemen's helm, oversaw the unification of north and south Yemen in 1990 and survived a civil war four years later that was sparked by an attempt from southern leaders to break away.
His current term ends in 2013 and Ahmar, a business tycoon whose criticism of the government over the past year has made him increasingly popular in Yemen, is seen as a leading contender to succeed him.
But Ahmar cited his tribal ties to the country's ruler as a reason not to pursue the presidency, saying those links could dent people's faith in him.
"Suppose Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar has gone and Hamid Abdallah al-Ahmar comes. ... People won't believe there will be change unless someone else comes," Ahmar said.
Ahmar belongs to the same powerful tribal federation as Saleh and the two share the al-Ahmar name, although they are not directly related.
He did not definitively rule out serving in Yemen's top post, but said it was not his aim.
MANY CHALLENGES
Secessionist sentiment in the south still simmers, with violence on the rise in recent months. But it is only one of many challenges in Yemen, which is also trying to cement a truce with northern Shi'ite rebels and quash a resurgent Yemen-based al Qaeda arm.
Yemen has been a Western security concern since a Yemen-based al Qaeda arm claimed responsibility for a failed December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.
Yemen's Western allies and Saudi Arabia fear a resurgent al Qaeda wing could exploit unrest to use Yemen as a base for destabilising attacks in the region and beyond. They want the government to resolve internal conflict and consolidate power.
Ahmar dismissed warnings that Yemen, next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, could descend into chaos like nearby Somalia if its political situation remained unresolved.
Like many in Yemen's opposition movement, he said he was sceptical an unprecedented charm offensive launched by Saleh to woo opponents would yield concrete concessions on political and social reforms. But he said dialogue should be given a chance.
Facing spiralling violence and a deepening recession, Saleh said in May that a new national dialogue could lead to a unity government, and agreed to include northern rebels and southern separatists in talks, a key opposition demand.
Ahmar, who belongs to his father's al-Islah party that leads an alliance of six opposition groups, said he would launch a peaceful movement against any attempt by Saleh to prolong his rule after his term ends.
"The president has failed to run Yemen. In my opinion he doesn't deserve to have his term extended," Ahmar said.
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