Qasim Al-Reimi: Dead or Not Dead?
Lets add this guy to the Yemen deal pool. I have five bucks on not dead.
Reuters, 9 August 2007
SANAA – Al Qaeda’s second most senior leader in Yemen was not among four militants killed by security forces on Wednesday, a security source said, based on a medical examination of the corpse.
A security source said on Wednesday Qasem al-Raimi was killed in a raid along with other three militants in the city of Marib. The official Al-Thawra newspaper also put Raimi among the Marib dead and published his picture with its front page report.
A medical examination showed the body, believed to be Raimi’s, was that of another man, the security source said on Thursday.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said those killed in Marib, 150 km (95 miles) east of the capital Sanaa, were involved a bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis last month
Official sources said that Yemeni security forces killed Wednesday morning four suspects of linked to al-Qaeda in Yemen in air and land attack on the suspects in Assahim area between Marib and al-Jawf province.
The GPC-run website almotamar.net quoted the governor of Marib Aref al-Zoka as saying that the killed suspects belong to the terrorist cell which carried out the attack on Spanish tourists in Marib last July.
The source identified two of the killed as Qasem al-Raimi and Ali bin Ali Doha and could not identify the other two because their bodies were extremely smashed up, according to the source.
But the source said that a reliable source identified the third suspect as Naji Ali Jerdan.
The counterterrorism forces, parachutes and land forces were used in the raid.A security source stated after the attack that people cooperated with military units to know the place of “those terrorists who attacked Spanish tourists last July 2, killing eight Spaniards and two Yemenis.”
The source said that one soldier was also killed and another was injured at the attack.
It added that the interior ministry would later announce more details about the operation and names.
al-Waeli was noted on the 2002 terror alert.
Almotamar.net – SANAA –The governor of Yemeni governorate of Marib Arif al-Zouka told almotamar.net that Yemeni anti-terror forces killed at the early hours of Wednesday four members of al Qaeda’s Yemen wing in an air and land raid in the area of Al-Sahim situated between the district of Raghwan, Marib and the governorate of Al-Jawf.
Al-Zouka said the killed were members of the cell were behind attacking the Spanish tourists in Marib. They are Qassim al-Raimi, one of the escapees from the political security prison, Ali Bin Ali Douha, in addition to two persons that were not identified because of the damage inflicted on them in the raid. Nevertheless, a reliable source told almotamar.net that the third killed person is Naji Ali Jardan but almotamar.net could not get the name of the fourth killed person.
Almotamar.net has learned from the same source that Abdulaziz Jardan, one of the accused in killing director of criminal investigations of Marib Col. Ali Mahmoud Qasila, managed to escape and the anti-terror forces were still chasing him.Yemeni forces have carried out the operation with parachute drop by a number of its forces with support by land troops after large information the Yemeni forces obtained about the whereabouts of the al-Qaeda militants.
Yemen’s ministry of interior has earlier said investigations into the Marib terrorist attack that killed a number of Spanish tourists and two Yemenis revealed that the suicide bomber terrorist who carried out the operation was Abdeh Mohammed Saeed Ahmed Ruhaiqa from Makal village, Mizhir district of the governorate of Raima.
He was recruited by the terrorist Hamza Ali Saleh al-Dhayani who trained him on driving a taxi and took him after that to Wadi Abida area in Marib where the terrorist cell was present and that planned and prepared implementation of the operation. The cell is composed of terrorists Nasser Abdulkarim al-Wahishi, Qassim Yahya Mahdi al-Raimi, Ali Bin Ali Nasser Douha, Hamza Salem Omar bin Salem al-Qaeeti and Imad Abadeh Masoud al-Jabari al-Waeli who prepared and supervised directly the attack, in addition to a Saudi terrorist Naif Mohammed al-Qahtani. Terrorists Naji Ali Saleh Jardan and Ali bin Ali Nasser Douha from the governorate of Marib have provided shelter and protection for the cell members that implemented the operation and are at the same time the main accused persons of killing the director of criminal investigations in Marib.
8/10 Assasins of CID Cheif in Marib
Almotamar.net – Yemen’s interior ministry published Thursday names of the four terrorists killed by security forces in the operation carried out Wednesday and resulted also in the martyrdom of one security soldier and wounding of another.
An official source at the ministry said investigations revealed that the killed terrorists were Ali bin Ali Nasser Douha, Naji Ali Saleh Jaradan, Abdulaziz Saleh Jaradan and Amer Hussein Saleh Jreidan. According to the source the last name of the killed terrorists was recruited by the cell and was being trained for carrying out new suicidal terrorist operations.
The interior ministry official source also added that three of the killed terrorists were involved in a number of terrorist operations, among them is assassination of Ali Mahmoud Qaseela, assistant director of criminal investigations in Marib governorate on 22 March 2007. the source affirmed that those elements had provided shelter to terrorists who escaped from prison, took part in planning and preparation for blasting oil installations in Marib and Hadramout perpetrated on Friday 15 September 2006 and they provided shelter for the Saudi national Naif Mohammed al-Qahtani who financed terrorist operations against oil installations in Marib and Hadramout. He said security authorities had got information on the cell’s meetings in an unpopulated area and were planning to perpetrate new terrorist acts.
Ammar or Imad
SANA’A, August 4 – Security authorities have identified the body of the suicide bomber who plowed his car into a convoy of Spanish tourists in early July, killing ten people, said Yemen official news agency Saba.
Saba quoted an official that DNA tests of human remains found at the site of the bombing indicated the attacker was 21-year-old Abdu Mohammed Saad Ahmed Reheqah, a Yemeni citizen from the district of Muzher in the Remah governorate.
According to the information, Reheqah rammed a car packed with explosives into a convoy of 13 Spanish tourists on a tour of an ancient temple in Marib on July 2, killing eight Spanish tourists and two local drivers and wounding five Spanish tourists, two Yemeni drivers and four police guards.
The investigations revealed that Reheqah was a member of a terrorist cell, which included eight Yemenis and two foreigners, Naif Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi national, and Ahmed Bassiouni Dewidar, an Egyptian who was killed in a shootout with security officers in Sana’a last month.
The terrorist cell also consisted of Naser Abdul-Karim Al-Waheshi, Mohammed Saleh Al-Kazemi, Qasem Yehya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Ali Naser Dohah, Hamzah Salen Al-Qo’aiti, Ammar Obadah Mus’aod Al-Jobari Al-Wa’aili.
Nasser Al-Wahaishi and Qasem Al-Raimi pronounced themselves as the leaders of the new generation of Al Qaeda in Yemen, issuing a statement on an Islamic website days before the attack demanding the release of some Al-Qaeda members jailed in Yemen and threatening unspecified retaliation. Al-Wahaishi and Al-Raimi escaped from an intelligence prison in Sana’a early last year.
Regarding the Marib attack, security reports mentioned that Reheqah was recruited by Hamza Ali Saleh Al-Dhiyani, a taxi driver who gave the suspect driving lessons and then took him to Marib to introduce him to other members of the terrorist cell.
Before the attack, Reheqah was waiting with his car, a Land Cruiser, on the paved road of Mareb-Safer when the tourists drove by. As the tourists’ cars approached the pavement, he launched his car filled with explosives at their second car, killing the tourists and himself.
Seven members of the cell were reportedly tasked with planning and supervising the attack, while two others from Marib provided shelter and protection.
The members from Marib, Naji Ali Jaradan and Ali bin Ali Daoha, were wanted for the murder of a high-ranking security official in Marib, according to the reports.
Police thought that the Egyptian member, an alleged Al-Qaeda operative who was killed a few days after the attack while resisting arrest, was one of the masterminds behind the operation. But Saba said the government’s investigation revealed Dewidar had offered logistical support to the group.
Fifteen people have been detained in connection with the investigation, but the members of the terrorist cell who are still alive remain at large, according to Saba. However, the investigation committee affirmed that security authorities have obtained significant information which would assist in arresting remaining cell members, warning that anybody who aids any member of this cell will be considered accomplices.
The Interior Ministry has offered a $75,500 reward for information leading to the capture of those behind the attack.
US Notes Uptick
U.S. Embassy Warns of Yemen Terrorists
Source:The Associated Press
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen has warned Americans here to reduce their profile because the country is experiencing “previously unseen” terrorist actions.
In a message dated Monday to Americans living in Yemen, the embassy said the terrorist threat was not temporary. It urged Americans to avoid large groups of Westerners, vary their travel routes and times to and from work and limit travel within the capital, Sana’a.
The week’s events from around the world, captured in pictures.
“We are now experiencing terrorist actions previously unseen in Yemen,” read the message, which also reminded Americans that there is an “active” al-Qaida presence in Yemen and Western interests “may continue to be targeted.”
The latest warning comes more than a month after a suicide bomber killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis near a temple linked to the ancient Queen of Sheba in the country’s north. An eighth Spaniard died about a week later at a Yemen hospital from injuries she received from the blast.
Yemeni authorities have said the suicide bombing’s mastermind was Ahmed Bassiouni Dewidar, an Egyptian national and alleged al-Qaida operative who was killed in July while resisting arrest.
Al-Qaida continues to have an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
Tribal retaliation for raid Globe and Mail
SANAA, YEMEN — Al-Qaeda militants attacked a power station and a government building in the northern Yemen town of Marib in the early hours Thursday, causing a major power outage, police and tribal officials said.
The attacks appeared to be a response to a raid a day earlier by security forces who killed a senior al-Qaeda operative in the zone and three other militants.
More than a dozen suspected al-Qaeda members have been arrested or killed in recent weeks as the government cracks down on a cell blamed for a suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in July.
The Islamic militants used rocket-propelled grenades and other explosives to bomb the main power station in Marib, leaving the whole town in the dark overnight, said a security official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
A government building was also attacked, but there were no casualties because the office complex was nearly empty at the time except for guards, the official said.
Meanwhile, embassies and hotels were put on high security alert in the capital, Sanaa, where checkpoints were installed on main roads to prevent an escalation of al-Qaeda attacks, another Yemeni official said, speaking on conditions of anonymity for the same reasons.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen has urged Americans to avoid travelling in large groups and to remain in the capital as much as possible because the country is experiencing a “previously unseen” level of terrorist actions.
Al-Qaeda has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al-Qaeda was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors, and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
The Egyptian as a diversion, who’da thunk it?
Politicians: Authoritarianism and individual rule are behind terror
August 11, 2007- The Youth Forum for Development arranged on Thursday a seminar subtitled “Terrorism in Yemen… problem and solution” in which politicians, journalists and activists took part in.
“Terrorism is a coddled enemy of Yemen and there is no clear-cut evidence that authorities are combating it “said the senior leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Ali al-Sarari.
He said that the regime is the main benefactor of terrorism and it sole for terrorism and allied with, but it tried to stop that relationship after Sept. 11 events.
He further suspected that authorities are serious to combat terrorism saying “They fear of terror, but they do not want to fight it “, considering, in the meantime, that they had flamed Saada war to avoid fighting terrorism.”They tried to persuade the international community that they were combating terrorism, but their deceptiveness was exposed when U.S officials considered Saada war is not a war against terror” said he .
“The authorities killed Basiony, an Egyptian national who was alleged by the government that he was the mastermind of Marib terrorist event, in order to evade any serious investigation which could have revealed those who were behind Marib terrorist operation” added al-Sarari.
Moreover, the journalist Nabil al-Bukairi said that the real reasons behind terror are authoritarianism which led to marginalize citizens, pointing out to other social, economic and cultural factors which have their impacts on terror .
The journalist Radad al-Slami said that those who adopt “violence ideologies” are victims of misperceptions of Islam, indicating to other factors which draw youths to terrorism: illiteracy, corruption and the bad economic condition Yemen is suffering.
In conclusion of the seminar, the participators denounced terror and targeting tourists.
Al-Reimi who was dead, isnt; the attack in Marib that happened, didn’t: regime
SANA’A, August 12 — Yemeni officials denied on Friday that the Marib electricity station has been subjected to a shell attack.
“Some random bullets have been shot from a far distance at the power generator that supplies the province with power, causing slight damages,” the security director of Marib province, Mohammed Al-Ghadra, stated.
Marib governor, Aref Al-Zuka reported that “some adherents to Al-Qaeda” fired shots from the distance towards the station and one of the security checkpoints, wounding a citizen who was passing by on the highway. Al-Zuka affirmed there were no damages to the station, adding that security personnel in Marib pursued the offenders in order to bring them before the relevant authorities.
According to security sources the attack, which occurred early Thursday morning, was carried out by gunmen who shot at a government building and police checkpoints around the town of Marib, located east of Sana’a.
Local and international media reported that Islamic militants utilized rocket-propelled grenades and other explosives to bomb the main power station in Marib, leaving the whole town in darkness overnight. Security officials suspect the gunmen were either Al-Qaeda militants or sympathizers.
The attack occurred a day after Yemeni counterterrorism forces killed four Al-Qaeda militants suspected to be involved in a car bomb attack that left eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis dead in Marib July 2.
An official source from the Ministry of Interior stated Friday that terrorists killed in a security raid Wednesday were planning further attacks. The source identified the suspects as Ali bin Ali Naser Doha, Naji Ali Jaradan, Abdul-Aziz Saeed Jaradan, Amer Hassan Saleh and Amar Obada al-Waeli.
The official source stated that the first three men were involved in terrorist attacks on Safer refinery in Marib and Al-Dhaba refinery in Hadramout last September, killing the assistant director of the criminal investigation in Marib and concealing terrorist escapees.
Qassem Al-Raimi, who escaped from a Sana’a prison in February 2006 and was one of the accused in the attack on Spanish tourists at Sun Temple, was not among the Al-Qaeda operatives killed in this security mission, Al-Zuka stated.
He explained that fingerprints of the four dead Al Qaeda members did not match Al-Raimi and therefore he is still a fugitive.
In related news, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen has warned Americans to reduce their profile because the country is experiencing “previously unseen” terrorist activity. In a message sent Monday to Americans living in Yemen, the embassy stated that the current terrorist threat was not temporary.
The message urged Americans to avoid large groups of Westerners, vary their travel routes and times to and from work and limit travel within the capital, Sana’a. “We are now experiencing terrorist actions previously unseen in Yemen,” the message read, also reminding Americans that there is an “active” Al-Qaeda presence in Yemen and Western interests “may continue to be targeted.”
2:35 a.m. August 13, 2007
SANAA – Yemeni security forces captured several militants on Monday who were believed to have been involved in an attack that killed eight Spanish tourists last month, a security official said.
The official said the dawn raid was carried out using helicopters in Abyan, an area of wooded mountains in Yemen’s southeast. He was not immediately able to give more details.On Wednesday, Yemeni security forces killed four al-Qaeda militants who were believed to have been involved in the suicide bombing of the Spanish tour bus at the Queen of Sheba Temple in the province of Marib.
Since then, gunmen have attacked a power station and security patrols in the same region.
Yemen, ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is viewed in the West as a haven for Islamist militants.
The U.S. embassy in Sanaa has said there is now a risk of the kind of attacks previously unseen in Yemen – a reference to the attack at the temple.
Yemen has previously said its security forces killed an Egyptian who helped mastermind the attack, carried out by a 21-year-old Yemeni man, Abdou Mohammad Rahiqa.
Security officials in Abayan on Monday morning arrested several members of Al Qaeda who were allegedly involved in the July 2 bomb attack in Mareb that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni drivers, said a statement from the Ministry of the Interior. The men were discovered in the district of Muddya in Abyan after someone tipped off the security officials to their location. The army surrounded the area using helicopters and the soldiers were able to capture the men without using violence. No one was injured.
In related news, the Ministry of Interior announced Thursday the names of four terrorists who died at the hands of security authorities in a recent counter-terrorism operation, conducted Wednesday in Mareb. An official source at the ministry said investigations revealed the men’s names: Ali bin Ali Nasser Doha, Naji Ali Saleh Jardan, Abdul-Aziz Sa’id Jardan, Amer Hassan Saleh Herridan. The operation resulted in the death of one security soldier, the wounding of another, and the killing of the four alleged terrorists.
According to an official source in the Ministry of the Interior, Qasim al-Riyami, who is one of escapees from the prison of political security and one of the men accused in the attack on Spanish tourists in Mareb in July, was not among the four Al Qaeda members who were murdered. This contradicts previous reports that al-Riyami was among those killed. Sources said three terrorists were former members who participated in a number of terrorist operations, which include the assassination of Colonel Mahmoud Gosaila, assistant director of security in Mareb Governorate on March 23 of this year.
The security authorities accused the four men of protecting other terrorists who escaped from the prison, as well as participating in the planning and preparation for the bombing of oil installations in each of the Saffer sectors in Mareb governorate, and the port of Al-Dabbah, Hadramout Governorate committed last September 15. Also, the four men are accused of harboring Mohammed Naif al-Qahtani, a Saudi national, who is the financier of subversive terrorist operations that have targeted oil installations in Mareb and Hadramout. On a related issue, the Security Manager for the province of Mareb, Brigadier Mohamed Mansour Ghadrae, said that recent reports that electricity generators in Mareb were attacked by rockets are untrue.
Rather, the generators were attacked by men armed with small firearms, and there was no damage. “What happened was the firing of shots at random from light weapons and distance from the generators electric, and it did not result in any damage recalls,” he explained. “Those who fired the shots are wanted elements sought by security organs,” he added. “The security forces wills continue tracking the wanted men to bring them to justice for their reward punishment.”
