Starting Points: Sana'a

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Jun 19, 2010

Insurgents Attack Yemeni Government Security Headquarters in Aden |

Edward Yeranian | Cairo19 June 2010

Photo: AFP

Security forces set up a road block in the city of Aden, 19 June, 2010, after insurgents attacked a Yemeni intelligence headquarters in this southern port city

Insurgents, possibly belonging to al-Qaida, attacked the main Yemeni police intelligence headquarters in the Southern Yemeni capital of Aden Saturday, killing at least 11 people and wounding at least nine others. Eyewitnesses report that a number of prisoners were also set free during the bloody shootout.

Insurgents wearing military uniforms stormed the main gate of the Yemeni police intelligence compound in the city of Aden Saturday, causing numerous casualties and embarrassing the government.

Eyewitnesses say the attackers fired assault weapons, mortars and grenades at those guarding the building, as well as employees and civilians inside the compound. The bloody shootout lasted for over an hour and set fire to parts of the building.

Yemeni government TV said that the attackers freed a number of prisoners. Police in Aden set up roadblocks all across the old city after the insurgents withdrew.

Yemeni security forces have stepped up attacks against southern separatist rebels, as well as al-Qaida militants, during the past month, causing numerous casualties among their ranks, as well as among civilians, according to some sources.

Yemen Post newspaper editor-in-chief Hakim Almasmari says that facial features of the assailants reveal that they were southerners, but he argues it is still not clear if they were separatists or al-Qaida militants. Al-Qaida, he points out, announced Friday that it would retaliate for government attacks against it in eastern Yemen.

"Al-Qaida last night announced that they will attack because of [government raids on its militants] in Maarib over the past month. The government killed many in Maarib, and many of those who were killed were also civilians, even though seven al-Qaida [militants] were killed. So, al-Qaida [was] on the verge of retaliation," said Almasmari.

Southern tribesmen in Maarib also recently blew up a key oil pipeline after a government airstrike accidentally killed an official trying to mediate with al-Qaida militants in the region.

Al-Qaida militants have attacked Yemeni police headquarters in the capital Sana'a, several times, in recent years, freeing a number of prisoners. Hakim Almasmari, however, insists that Saturday's attack in Aden was by far the biggest and most embarrassing for the government.

"This is massive," he said. "This is much, much bigger than what happened last year [in Sana'a]. This attack is very, very massive and the death toll is very high. The government has even fired the two main political security officials in Aden. They were fired early in the morning [Saturday]. So, the government is surprised that they were able to enter the [southern] capital and also they're questioning other officials inside the public security to see if they aided the attackers."

Yemen has prompted increasing concerns among Western governments, as al-Qaida militants and southern separatists wage battle against the central government in Sana'a. Both threats follow a protracted rebellion by Zaidi shi'ite rebels in the northern Saada province, last year.

Mar 16, 2010

Yemen says militants died in raid

Two al-Qaeda militants killed in Yemen have been identified, government officials have said.

A third suspected senior militant has also reportedly been killed in two days of air raids by the Yemeni airforce.

The bombing raids were carried out Sunday and Monday on the southern province of Abyan.

Also on Tuesday, a series of small blasts reportedly went off in the southern city of Aden, which officials attributed to southern separatists.

Jamil Nasser Abdullah al-Ambari, 25, believed to be the leader of al-Qaeda in southern Abyan province, was one of two militants killed in the overnight raid, the security official told AFP.

The other militants were named as Smir Al-Sayari, and Ahmed Al-Zarba by local media.

The al-Qaeda operatives were connected to the failed bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Boxing Day, government officials told journalists.

It is not clear how many other people were killed in the airstrikes.

Separatist fight

The government of Yemen is facing three different militant groups, al-Qaeda, southern secessionists, and a rebel movement in the north - although it has it has called a truce with the later.

South and north Yemen were united in 1990 and fought a brief civil war in 1994, and grievances with separatists still remain.

The series of blasts in Aden were likely to be home-made firebombs or grenades belonging to southern separatists, government officials told the news agency Reuters.

There have been clashes between security services and separatists in a number of towns in the past month.

A truce with another rebel group, known as the Houthis, in northern Yemen has allowed the government in Sanaa to turn its attention to the secessionist movement and to the al-Qaeda cadre said to be hiding out in the same area.

But the truce between the government and the Houthis was reportedly under strain on Tuesday with government officials telling reporters the Houthis were not sticking to the agreements they made.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of the al-Qaeda core around Osama bin Laden, have been using Yemen as a base since several militants broke out of a Saudi jail in 2008 and escaped over the border.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his underpants reportedly had contact with the al-Qaeda group when he was studying in Yemen in the months before his alleged bombing attempt.