Al Qaeda returns to the heart of the south, above 17 killed in suicide attack in Aden

By Nasser Arrabyee,18/08/2012

More than 17 people were killed and 10 others injured when a group of terrorists from Al Qaeda attacked the intelligence office and and the adjacent  radio and TV building in the southern coastal city of Aden, local and official sources said Saturday.

The attack by RPGs and and machine guns came minutes  after a suicide bomber drove his car into the gate of the intelligence office and blued himself up and destroyed most of the building. The attackers came after that from two directions. one group came from the direction of the sea, the local sources said. 

The suicide attack came  days after the Saudi and Yemeni governemnt failed to convince Al Qaeda to release the Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al Khalidi who was kidnapped by Al Qaeda from his office in Aden last March. 
Last week, Al Khalidi was almost released. Al Qaeda released him to a tribal leader as a sign of good intentions. But when the two governments failed to pay the 10 million dollars ransom and to release a specific number of detainees from  Saudi and Yemeni prisons, hostage was kept. 

The suicide attack of Saturday represents a strong sign that  Al Qaeda ( AQAP, which calls itself  Ansar Al Shariah) is still having the ambitions to control the south of Yemen. Attacking such important places in Aden is expected to help Al Qaeda to raise morale and restore the places that were partly controlled by the army and tribesmen allegedly loyal to the government last months, like Jaar and Zinjubar in Abyan and Azzan in Shabwah.