CC: SANAA (Reuters) - An oil pipeline was blown up in Yemen on Friday but caused no disruption to production and more than 10 tribesmen had been arrested in connection with the incident, a security official said.The official, who declined to be named, said Islamist militants were not believed to have been involved and that the damaged section of the pipeline, about 50 km (30 miles) east of the capital Sanaa, had been repaired.
thats a good idea
SANA’A, Sep. 6 — The Minister of Education stated that the ministry is preparing a primary study to employ 30,000 university graduates under the program of Eradicating Illiteracy. “We are preparing a primary study to employ at least 30,000 university graduates under the Eradicating Illiteracy Program,” Minister of Education Abd Al-Salam Muhammad Hizam Al-Jawfi said.
According to Al-Jawfi, the illiteracy rate in Yemen was 63 percent during the1990s, but has now decreased to less than 45 percent. “The efforts exerted by the government, NGOs and international organizations, the spread of schools, primary education and the redistributing of teachers helped a lot in decreasing the illiteracy rate,” Al-Jawfi affirmed.
USAID grants $ 3.1 mln to develop capacities of youths in Yemen[15 September 2008]
SANA’A, Sep. 15 (Saba)- Yemen and United Stated Agency for International Development USAID signed on Monday an agreement of grant at sum of $ 3.1 million, which would be used by Social Fund for Development and Al-Saleh Corporation for Vocational Training and other training centers.
On the one hand, Yemen realy doesn’t do a good job keeping even convicted terrorists in jail. On the other hand, some of these guys have been cleared for release for over a year. On the third hand, al-Hitar’s program has a high recidivism rate.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 Assurances Sought Before Guantanamo Inmates Go
U.S. Fears Detainees Returning to Yemen Will Still Pose ThreatSANA’A, Yemen — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates — and both presidential candidates — have said they want to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Before that happens they will need to overcome U.S. concerns that members of the biggest block of terrorism suspects there, Yemeni nationals, won’t be properly monitored if they are sent home.
In a visit to Yemen over the weekend, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers discussed cooperation with the Yemeni government to establish a “facility” to receive released detainees, according to a news release on the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a.
It should be apparent to everyone by now that there is a urgent requirement in Yemen for supervised disengagement. The last four times they tried it on their own it didn’t work either. Can the Qataris get a crash course in how to handle the physical supervision?
Yemen Times:
SA’ADA, Sept. 14 — Houthi field leaders have repeated their strong denunciation of an official media campaign, launched by senior government officials over the past few days against their followers.Houthis’ representative Sheikh Saleh Habra told various media outlets that the hostile campaign implies that the regime is plotting to breach the Doha-brokered ceasefire agreement, which the government and Houthis signed last February. “This is the same behavior followed by the government ahead of the fifth Sa’ada war,” Habra went on to say.
He added that there is strong evidence against several local and international personalities that they oppose peace and stability in the Sa’ada governorate. “These people want to achieve their own objectives,” Habra noted. “The government hurriedly recruits thousands of tribesmen and provides money and arms to tribal leaders in an unprecedented way.”
Security seize 135 kg of hashish in Harad city[16 September 2008]
SANA’A, Sep. 16 (Saba) - Security sources said on Tuesday that about 135 kg of hashish and a big quantity of wine were seized at Harad city of Hajjah province.The sources were quoted by the military-run 26sep.net as saying that the hashish and wine were prepared to be smuggled into Saudi Arabia.
Bahairi RightsAt-Tagammu, a Yemeni newspaper published by the Yemeni Unitary Congregation party, recently reported on the threats facing Yemen’s small Baha’i community following the arrest of 6 Baha’is in June. The newspaper highlighted the propagandist attempts inciting hatred against the community and accused extremist fundamentalists for the oppression. Below is our translation of the article.
After Yemen’s security authorities informed several Baha’i families that their breadwinners will be deported, the lives of 250 Baha’is in Yemen has been fraught with the risks of deportation, exclusion and cancellation, to a level that makes the country the scene of a major case of religious persecution.
Right after AQ calls for more maritime actions…
The global shipping community has called upon the world’s naval powers to deploy more warships to patrol the commercially strategic Gulf of Aden to counter rising levels of piracy off the coast of Somalia.
The call comes in the wake of frequent incidents of piracy in the region, the latest being the hijacking of two vessels off the coast of Somalia Thursday.
In a joint statement, leading ship associations and transport unions said the situation is “spiraling completely and irretrievably out of control.”
They have made urgent calls to the United Nations in New York and its maritime body in London seeking the deployment of effective naval forces.
It is said that some shipping firms were already refusing to transit the Gulf of Aden.
The vital sea route in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia connects the Gulf and Asia to Europe and beyond via the Suez Canal. It is critical to Gulf oil shipments.
Currently, Somali pirates are holding 13 vessels captive, along with more than 200 sailors. Most of the gangs are based in northern Somalia’s Puntland region, where security forces reportedly clashed with pirates on Thursday.
Along with Jihad TV, a new TV station run by Abdulmajid al-Zindani, and the commission of Virtue and Vice, now we have the Jihaddi think tank. And yes they do need to do some thinking.
The former bodyguard of al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, said he is preparing to establish a think-tank on jihad in the Yemeni capital Sana’a where he lives under loose house arrest.
“We’ll study the history of jihad. We’ll look at how it started and how the concept can be applied now,” Nasser al Bahri, told Yemen Observer, in an interview in Sana’a.
The 33-year old al Bahri, who is also called Abu Jandal, joined al Qaeda in 1996 and spent four years in Afghanistan. The sincere and strong young man had orders to kill bin Laden, if his sheikh (boss) was on the brink of being captured.
Nice of him to spread it around a little.
The al-Saleh’s mosque is partially opened on the advent of Ramadan as many people from Sana’a and visitors from the governorates went to pray in it.
The president’s mosque which is built on the president’s expense is considered to be an immense Islamic building and one of Sana’a city distinctive features. Its cost is mounted to $60 million.
thats over 1/4 mil US
The third kidnapping in 2008.
It would be nice to have some stats on how many Yemenis a year get kidnapped.
Yemen cracks down to free two Colombian hostages
[20 September 2008]
ABYAN, Sep. 20 (Saba)- Security sources said on Saturday that the security committee of Abyan province held a meeting to conduct security crackdowns for the release of two Colombian oil experts who were kidnapped on Friday by tribal gunmen.
The sources added that the two Colombian oil experts, working with the Yemeni Liquefied Natural Gas Company, were kidnapped on Friday while they were on their way to the pipelines, in Balhaf, Shabwa province.
Well-informed sources said the two Colombian oil experts, along with two Yemenis, were kidnapped in the Shabwa province, east of Yemen. The hostages were identified as Hector Marin, Rafael Abala, Basheer Al Sulwi, the driver, and Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Gani.
Primary investigations revealed the kidnappers were from the Ba Kazem tribe in Shabwa province. The kidnappers drove off in the car of the kidnapped experts, leaving their car at the spot where the kidnapping occurred.
According to a local statistics, Yemen has witnessed about 134 kidnappings, which included about 325 Europeans and 25 Americans, between 1990 and 2005.
Around 80 per cent of these abductions took place in the provinces of Sana’a, Amran, Mareb, Sa’ada and Shabwa.
Iran has rejected reports that its vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden was carrying a ‘dangerous consignment’.The pirates were angry because when they opened the cargo of the Iranian ship, several Somalis died, while others lost hair and suffered skin burns, Reuters quoted Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program, as saying.
“It must have been a very dangerous chemical,” he added, without identifying the substance.
Not Zaidis, Hashemites actuallly, but the report is getting much better. There’s also the Bahai arrested and facing deportation.
The US International Religious Freedom Report 2008,released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, said that neither Yemeni constitution nor other laws protect or inhibit freedom of religion.
“Neither Yemeni constitution nor other laws protect or inhibit freedom of religion; however, government policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion.”
YP: YEMENI authorities have arrested the leader of the Islamic Jihad group which had claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the US embassy that killed 17 people, a state-run website said today.
The September 26 site (26sep.net) said group leader Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani was among six people arrested “for threatening to target foreign embassies”.
local and international reports indicate that fisheries are one of Yemen’s potential sources of wealth after its oil supplies are depleted.
YO
However, Abdul Elah Haidar, an analyst specialized in terrorism affairs, said the attack on the American embassy was evidence that al Qaeda presence was getting stronger and stronger.
“Al Qaeda is no longer in the remote and isolated areas only as it was in the past, it is everywhere now including the capital Sana’a,” Haidar told the Yemen Observer.
“The attackers of the embassy came from Sana’a, and they were not known to the security agencies, they were new faces,” said Haider
He attributed the increasing activity of al Qaeda and its recruitment of the new elements to the support of the tribesmen who provide a safe haven for the al Qaeda operatives and fugitives.
“The tribesmen believe in what al Qaeda people say more than what the government says. Al Qaeda speaks about the issues in the minds of the people like Palestine and Iraq,” said Haidar.
The extremist religious discourse was behind the recent violent attacks in Yemen including the last one against the US embassy, says Ahmed al Sufee, director of the Yemeni institute for development of democracy, a local NGO. “We should think of removing the sources of terrorism which are related to our system of education, mosques, schools and curriculums,” al Sufee told the Yemen Observer.
The so-called new generation of al Qaeda in Yemen was blamed for the attack on the US embassy by Nasser al Bahri, alias Abu Jandal, who worked as the body guard of Osama bin Laden for about three years in Afghanistan before he came back to Yemen where was arrested immediately after the USS Cole bombing in October 2000. “It’s the act of the new generation who do not understand what Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda wants,” Abu Jandal told the Observer.
“This is not the act of al Qaeda I know, the strike of the embassy had no strategic goals, it was a random and childish act,” he said in interview in Sana’a three days after the attack.
“Any action carried out by the real al Qaeda so far always had strategic goals,” said al Bahri who has been under loose house arrest since he was released from prison in 2002.
Abstract
Objective
To examine the occurrence, type and associations of harsh corporal punishment in Yemen.Methods
Caregiver and teacher reports were obtained on 1,196 Yemeni 7–10-year olds obtained by systematic random sampling of children in the 1st to 4th grades of urban and rural schools. Caregivers (86% mothers) reported on disciplinary practices, socio-familial background, and child psychopathology. Teachers reported on school performance and child psychopathology.
I love writing that.
SANA’A, NewsYemen
Yemeni imprisoned journalist Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani left the Central Prison on Thursday after President Saleh gave him amnesty and canceled a six-year sentence issued by a primary court three months ago.
After leaving prison, al-Khaiwani told NY that his release is “a victory for all Yemeni journalist and civil society organizations and human rights advocates”.
Al-Khaiwani declined that security authorities have demanded him to sign any obligation before leaving the prison, but said they have asked him to commit to law and constitution. “I have assured them that I was always committed to law and constitution”, said al-Khaiwani.
Al-Khaiwani expressed his gratitude to his colleague journalists and rights activists.
“I am proud to belong to journalists who can defend democracy”.Yemeni Journalists Syndicate welcomed the presidential amnesty.
Al-Khaiwani was sentenced to six years in jail for allegedly supporting rebels in Sa’ada, north of Yemen and insulting President Saleh.
Local and international organizations have condemned the imprisonment of al-Khaiwani including the Amnesty International that has awarded him the 2008 award for “Journalists under Threat”.
I’d really like to thank everyone at Jawa who helped and the ladies of the Cotillion who really did a wonderful job highlighting the petition and the case. A remarkable grass roots coalition they call it in the article. (No astroturfing here!)
The people at HAMSA who set up the petition, organized the facebook group and helped me with the media (akkk!) really deserve a lot of credit. Thirty-seven international human rights organizations and a variety of civil society groups in Yemen kept up the pressure since June when al-Khaiwani was sentenced to six years for writing an article that “made the military sad” as my son called it.
Anyway for the second time in my life I have a post called Al-Khaiwani Sprung. (There’s a few people around, including Rusty, who remember when we did this the first time in 2005.)
BOSTON, Sept. 25 AIC-Yemen-Journalist
Weddady: “A Great Day for Free Expression in the Middle East.”
BOSTON, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Islamic Congress (AIC) today hailed news that leading Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani has been pardoned after more than three months in prison on charges of “insulting the president.”
AIC has campaigned for al-Khaiwani’s release since June, generating over 1,600 letters to Yemeni officials from free speech supporters around the world (http://campaigns.aicongress.org/yemen).
“This is a great day for freedom of expression in the Middle East,” said Nasser Weddady, AIC’s Civil Rights Outreach Director. “A pioneering Arab journalist who stuck to his principles is once again a free man.”
“Freedom is not a gift, and the struggle is for everyone,” al-Khaiwani said in a statement to AIC following his release. He left prison just before 4 pm local time and returned home, reuniting with his family.
!!!!!!!
Thats GOOD NEWS.
President Saleh pardons al-Khaiwani
[25 September 2008]
SANA’A, Sep. 25 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered to cancel the sentence issued against the journalist Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, the state-run 26 September reported on Thursday.
Well-informed sources told the Weekly that al-Khaiwani would be released in the coming few hours after signing the required pledges to abide by to the Constitution and laws in force and not to stir up sectarianism, regionalism strife or undermine the national unity, security and public order.
The president’s pardon to al-Khaiwani came after issuing directions on 9 September to free the detainees in link to stirring up sectarianism, regionalism strife on the occasion of Ramadan in addition to release a number of detainees involved on Saada rebellion
Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani was received a sentence of six years last June in the case of Sana’a Second Cell.
The regime exploits the terror attacks every time, on the home front and abroad.
Almotamar.net - Assistant Secretary General of the General People’s Congress (GPC) for Information Sector Dr Ahmed Ubaid Bin Daghr said Friday the current stage is characterized Assistant Secretary General of the General People’s Congress for Information Sector Dr Ahmed Ubaid Bin Daghr said Friday the current stage has different characteristics and it is object to discussion and exchange of opinions among political leaderships in the arena.
And on it goes. M&C:
Sana’a, Yemen - Three powerful explosions shook three police buildings late Tuesday in the southern Yemeni city of Zunjubar, but no casualties were reported.
Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that two explosions were heard outside the compound of the Central Police force in the city, about 60 kilometres east of the southern port city of Aden.
The third blast hit the headquarters of the Criminal Police agency, they said, adding that the blast might have been the result of projectiles fired at the buildings.
A local journalist at the scene said that ambulances rushed to the scene of the third blast, but no confirmed reports on casualties were immediately available.
Zunjubar is near Ja’ar city, the stronghold of Jihadi groups in Yemen, which sits on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula.
On August 30, police arrested Khaled Abdulnabi, a leading figure in the Islamic Jihad movement in Ja’ar, amid a clampdown on militant groups.
Security forces have since been pursuing five militants connected to bombings that targeted local government and police buildings in Abyan.
Police in Abyan have arrested 40 militants in a clampdown on militant groups last month in the rugged mountainous area of Hatat near Ja’ar.
I thought it was al-Reimi and a funeral… I have to check.
«A hot and cold policy (by the government) doesn’t work anymore,» said Mohammed Abulahoum, head of foreign relations for the ruling General People’s Congress party. «A clear-cut strategy has to be worked out,» he said. «We are probably looking at the tip of the iceberg with these incidents.
American officials have long been frustrated over what is seen as a «revolving door» policy toward al-Qaida militants by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government. Yemen has let some convicted militants go free after promising to refrain from violence, and in several cases, Washington has had to press it to keep particular militants in custody.
In a sign of the free rein given militants, one of the suspected top commanders of al-Qaida in Yemen, Nasser al-Wahishi, openly attended a wedding in the capital’s Old City two months ago, according to people who attended the ceremony and a Yemeni security official. Al-Wahishi stayed long enough to greet the groom and family then disappeared, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Al-Wahishi was one of 23 al-Qaida figures who escaped from a high-security San’a prison in 2006, among them militants accused in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in Aden harbor. There were widespread reports that security officials helped in the escape, and experts say Yemen’s security and intelligence services are riddled with militant sympathizers.
Part of the reason for the lenience is the weakness of the government. State control is weak in much of the mountainous, tribal-dominated country. The regime must balance multiple factions and tribes, it’s unpopular because of the country’s economic woes, and it faces widespread anti-American sentiment among the population. So the regime or factions within it co-opt militants and give them protection in return for support.
«Yemen has a unique al-Qaida problem in that it can’t afford to go after them with full strength because they are so embedded in the system themselves,» said Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani, an independent political analyst.
Qirby estimates 1000-1500 al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen.
WaPo:
Yemen Rejects Some U.S. Requests on Extremists
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 25, 2008; 6:04 AMSANAA, Yemen — A growing number of attacks attributed to Islamist fighters, including last week’s assault on the U.S. Embassy here, appear to have ended Yemen’s immunity from such violence, but the country’s leaders say they have no intention of adopting some of the tougher security measures, as U.S. officials have urged.
Foreign Minister Abou Bakr al-Qurbi said his government will continue to reject demands to arrest many of the suspects identified by the United States or United Nations as al-Qaeda financiers and organizers, who walk freely in the capital, Sanaa.
“These issues should be left to every country,” Qurbi said at his home in Sanaa after the attack on the U.S. Embassy, which killed 13 people, including an American standing in line outside the building. “Other countries should keep in mind the country’s laws and constitution,” he added, as well as whether “the country has the resources to take the actions that are wanted.”
Gee lots of articles on Yemen lately. I’m posting this one because its spot on: Policy suggestions from Dominic Moran at ISN who notes the government has become so degraded that is unable to implement its policies. A myopic focus on counter-terror will only exacerbate the underlying disfunctionality and foster more terrorism.
My .02: The only way to dilute the significant impact of al-Qaeda loyalists in the security forces and adminstration is through power sharing. The only way to un-couple the terrorists’ deployment of criminal networks is through transparency and accountability. On a broader level, the vast alienation of Yemeni youth from the political system is a function of the concentration of power, and neither the GPC or JMP have reversed their elitism.
An excerpt:
As elsewhere in the region, western nations’ support for authoritarian governance in Yemen has backfired, promoting the radicalization of dissent and the unhealthy closeting of necessary ties between the government and powerful sector and tribal interests.
Importantly, the multiple crises facing Yemeni society have been met by seeming government confusion. Here, an opportunity clearly exists for the Saleh government’s allies to push for genuine social, political and civil reform.
In re-imagining Yemen’s relations with the west it is important to recognize that this reform process is not a palliative for all societal ills.
With its endemic poverty and patchwork of tribal and religious affiliations and groups Yemen does not cohere as a unitary state. The centralization of power in a reformed polity will continue to rely on multiple and often competing networks of solidarity and affiliation which, of necessity, will continue to stand opposed to the interests of competing groups in ongoing client-patron and partnership relationships.
Nevertheless, the need for change is clear. The absence of true political contest and suppression of dissent effectively prevents the addressing of key structural issues that inhibit the functioning of the Yemeni political system and, by extension, state organs. This has promoted endemic corruption and the attendant ossification and impotence of state ministries and agencies.
The results are clear in the government’s apparent confusion in dealing with the current economic crisis created by food and fuel price hikes, which has forced a growing number of citizens on to the streets and prompted the UN’s World Food Program to announce an emergency food aid program this week.
Clearly, the failure of the government to deal in a unified and determined manner with the sudden incapacity of many citizens to make ends meet threatens to promote the interests of radical militant Islam in the absence of genuine political reform and the clear cooption of the government in the so-called war on terror.
A first important step that Yemen’s allies can take is to build pressure for a genuine electoral reform process through demanding full opposition participation in a revived SCER.
In a supporting move, significant international pressure must be brought to bear on the Saleh government to end the use of political detention against opposition media and political figures.
The arrests and imprisonment of prominent journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, comedian Fadh al-Qarni (Islah) and a number of Socialist party figures, including leader Hassan Baoum, are clearly intended both to intimidate and to disrupt opposition activities and media ahead of next year’s poll.
The government appears sensitive to pressure on this issue with Baoum and al-Qarni released earlier this month on the basis of a government-JMP deal. Yemeni media reported Wednesday that Salah had also ordered the release of al-Khaiwarmi, imprisoned for six years in June for “insulting the president” and “demoralizing the military.”
Such changes will not pose an immediate threat to the maintenance of the General Peoples’ Congress’ hold on power but will allow next year’s poll to act as a truer expression of national sentiment, while strengthening moderate voices within religious political movements such as the Islah party - a JMP member.
The years since the Cole attack have demonstrated that an obsessive focus on counter-terrorism and bolstering security does not work in Yemen.
A change in approach is desperately needed.
Newsweek also pins the embassy attack on Waheshi, who is an old guard kind of guy. The other thing to keep in mind is that Mohmmed Naif al-Kahtani, the Saudi, was accused of funding the three prior sucide car bomb attacks: oil, tourists and Sayoun.
Yemen’s Revolving Door
Al Qaeda escapees may be fueling the latest round of attacks.Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff
Newsweek Web ExclusiveThe suspected mastermind of last week’s assault on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is a longtime Al Qaeda operative who escaped from a Yemeni prison more than two years ago, according to U.S. national-security officials.
Nasir al-Wahishi, a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, is believed to have organized the well-coordinated Sept. 17 attack, according to two U.S. national-security officials, who requested anonymity when discussing sensitive information. Two vehicles, one of them carrying militants armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, tried to breach the heavily fortified walls of the American Embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, according to news reports from the region.
Yemen’s president Ali Abduallah Saleh has ordered the release of imprisoned journalist, Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, the opposition “Al-Eshteraki” is reporting.
Mr. Al-Khaiwani, a noted regime critic, received a six year sentence in June, on purported “terror” charges. A global campaign eventually merged the efforts of 37 journalists organizations, Yemeni activists, American bloggers and civil rights groups. Al-Khaiwani was awarded Amnesty International’s Human Rights Media Award after his imprisonment in recognition of his work covering the humanitarian costs of a little known conflict in Yemen’s northern Sa’ada province. Earlier this month, Yemen denied a visa to the president of the International Journalist’s Federation, Jim Boumelha, who intended to award the honor to Mr. al-Khaiwani in his jail cell.
Al-Khaiwani was supposed to be included in the prior release of political prisoners this month that included comedian Fahd al-Qarni and Socialist Party leader Hassan Baoum according to a dialog between Yemen’s opposition parties and its ruling GPC party. However, while these prominent dissidents and nearly a thousand southern protesters were granted their freedom, al-Khaiwani remains behind bars. It is unclear if the reports of al-Khaiwani’s impending release are grounded in fact, or just another of the GPC’s bargaining tactics in the lead up to Yemen’s 2009 Parliamentary elections.
Update: YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its true. He’s not released yet but its true and in process.
This article is from the year 2000. I hadn’t seen it before so I need to throw it somewhere. The letter is an allegation and was never turned over.
One of the suicide bombers who attacked the destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden last year had been arrested — and released — just 17 months earlier by Yemeni authorities on charges of conspiring to kidnap Americans working in Yemen.
The suspect, Hassan Said Awadh Khemeri, a Yemeni who had trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden, was one of several suspects in the Cole attack who had been arrested in prior cases but released, according to interviews with officials in Yemen and the United States.
These interviews suggest that Yemeni authorities knew more about the men who attacked the Cole than they have acknowledged, and that they failed to scrutinize the ties of men long suspected of extremist activity.
American law enforcement officials complain that Yemeni officials have withheld information about the Cole plot from the United States. Indeed, several American investigators suspect that some Yemeni government officials knew about the attack before it was launched on Oct. 12 last year.
One Yemeni official familiar with his country’s investigation has charged that crucial evidence that he says links Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to the bombing has never been turned over to the F.B.I.
The evidence cited by the official included a letter believed to have been written by Mr. bin Laden and found in the house of one of the suspected Cole plotters in Yemen. It could provide the firmest link yet between Al Qaeda and the bombing, which killed 17 American sailors. (Read on …)
Timeline: Yemen Terrorist Activity and Statements
February 5, 2006, Twenty–three senior al-Qaeda operatives escaped a maximum security prison in Sana’a operated by the Political Security Organization. The prisoners tunneled 300 meters to the women’s bathroom of a nearby mosque. Reports indicate security officials may have assisted the escape. Several escapees were later killed confrontations with authorities; those who voluntarily surrendered are granted “loose house arrest” in exchange for a loyalty pledge to the Yemeni president.
September 15, 2006, Terrorists launched a complex, coordinated attack on oil facilities in Safer, Marib and Dhabba, Hadramout during shift changes. The first attack occurred in Hadramout at a 5:15 am when two suicide car bombers sped toward storage tanks. The driver of the first car bomb wore the uniform of facility staff, and the second driver was in a military uniform. Guards triggered the explosives with gunfire before they reached their target. At 5:50 a.m, security guards at a refinery in Mareb blew up two white cars loaded with explosives. One vehicle was stopped outside, and the other got through the gates and into the compound. Security officials opened fire and detonated the car about 100 yards from pipelines. The explosive devices were described as gas canisters wrapped with TNT. Two of the bombers were reportedly to among the February 2006 escapees.
November 7, 2006 Al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY) claims responsibility for the attacks on the oil facilities in a statement posted to Islamic forums. “Our brothers’ blood is not cheap, and the killing of sheik Abu Musab (al-Zarqawi), God bless his soul, in Iraq, is not going to go unpunished,” said the statement, dated Oct. 13. The statement references a videotape issued days before the attacks by Ayman al-Zawahri that threatened attacks on the Persian Gulf and on facilities he blamed for stealing Muslim oil. “These operations were carried out upon the directive of our emir (leader) Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, in which he ordered Muslims to strike at Western economy and drain it, and to halt the robbing of Muslims wealth,” the Internet statement said. The group also called President Saleh to repent, return to Islam and to reject America’s “religion” of democracy. AQY warns the US and its allies that these operations are only the “first spark,” and what will come next is worse.
The trial related to the attack concluded in November 2007 and resulted in jail terms of between 10 and 15 years for several defendants including six suspects tried in absentia. The six were among the Al-Qaeda operatives who escaped prison in February 2006: Nasser Abdulkarim al-Wahshi, Ibrahim Mohammed Huwaidi, Qassem Yahya al-Reimi, and Hamza al-Qaeiti along with Yemeni-American Gaber Elbaneh and Mohammed Al Omdah, both of whom previously surrendered to authorities.
Testimony at trial indicated that al-Reimi was the cell’s military officer. Al-Waheshi was the leader of the cell. Al-Waheshi was Usama bin Laden’s former personal secretary in the 1990’s and was extradited from Iran to Yemen in 2003. He urged jihad for God and bin Laden “through ups and downs” cell members testified, and no decisions were made without his approval.
Abu Bakr al-Rabei, previously convicted in the Limburg attack, admitted that the cell planned to carry out attacks against Western and US interests, as well as the homes of foreign diplomats. He received an eight year sentence. Several other defendants received lesser sentences.
March 27, 2007 Col. Ali Mahmoud Qusailah, head of Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in Mareb was ambushed and killed. Earlier in the day he had met with a top al-Qaeda operative in Yemen who revealed important information, press reports indicated.
June 21, 2007 Qasim al-Reimi announces that Nasser al-Wahishi is the leader of “al-Qaeda in Yemen” (AQY) in an audio message posted on Islamist internet forums. Both are among the February escapees. Al-Wahishi, said, “I have been nominated leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen and I say no to any surrender to government forces. Ignorance and Islam can never blend together. Several tyrants have tried to insert ignorance in Islam but they have all failed….They want us to renege our beliefs and to repudiate some of our principles. But during this time when they have been waging their crusader war, the enemies are being defeated as is happening in Afghanistan at the hands of the mujahadeen,” He said that al-Qaeda “could achieve in calmness period more than expected. It could recruit a lot of youths”, he said, indicating the Yemeni jihaddists “who joined Jihad in Iraq”, a number estimated to be in the thousands and a pursuit legal in Yemen.
July 2 2007 A suicide car bomber killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides at an ancient temple in Marib. The suicide bomber was Abdeh Ruhaiqa from Makal village, Raima. He rammed his car into the center cars of a four car tourist’s caravan, detonating explosives in his car. A security contingent was leading and following the convoy. Authorities reported Ruhaiqa was recruited by Hamza Ali Saleh al-Dhayani and trained in the Wadi Abida area in Marib. Other cell members included Nasser al-Wahishi, Qassim al-Raimi, Hamza al-Qaeti, Ali Bin Ali Nasser Douha, and Imad al-Waeli and Saudi national Naif Mohammed al-Qahtani. The cell was sheltered by Naji Ali Saleh Jardan and Ali bin Ali Nasser Douha, later accused of killing head of Maribs CID chief.
August 18 2007 Authorities uncovered a terror plot by returned Iraqi jihaddists who were trained to execute suicide attacks. The cell leader was Mohammad Yaqot a/k/a al-Lahji, suspected of involvement in the July Marib suicide attack.
August 2007 Militants attacked a power station and a government building in Marib, causing a major power outage. The attack was a response to an earlier raid by security forces.
October 17, 2007 Convicted USS Cole bombing mastermind Jamal al-Badawi surrendered and was granted house arrest. After US protests, he is reportedly returned to jail although indications exist that he was freed again.
December 10, 2007 Security services apprehended a wanted member of Al-Qaida. Ali Saleh Amiofa, arrested for the murder of the director of Marib CID.
December 13, 2007 Six soldiers belonging to Central Security forces were injured in two bomb explosions near two security posts in Hadramout at four o’clock in the morning. (Read on …)
The “defunct” AAIA grew out of YIJ. More on the recently arrested Nabi here. Theres an article at Straffor that says he was killed but all the other news stories say he was arrested.
A group called the Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack in a message posted on the Internet within hours of the bombing, according to the London based Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi.
The group threatened to soon target other embassies in the capital such as those of the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and demanded the release of inmates in Yemen jails.
The leader of the organization, Khalid ‘Abd A-Nabi, was reportedly arrested in Yemen last month after a five-year manhunt.
Working backwards, Abdullah al-Reimi certainly would have the expertise, considering the Jeddah attack.
WT A U.S. official based in Afghanistan said the attack incorporated a strategy that militants also have used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Armed gunmen have been the follow-up to the bombings to ensure maximum death and to ensure that the bombers follow through with the suicide attacks,” said the official, who asked not to be named because he holds a sensitive position.
A similar technique was used in 2004, when gunmen attacked the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. No Americans were hurt in that assault, which was foiled by security measures and Saudi security forces.
Official: 25 arrested over US embassy attack
By PAUL SCHEMM and AHMED AL-HAJ – 1 hour agoSAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Authorities arrested at least 25 militants with suspected links to al-Qaida in connection with the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, a senior security official said Thursday.
The Yemeni official said the 25 have been rounded up from various parts of Yemen over the past 24 hours and were being questioned by Yemeni and U.S. investigators.
It is not unusual for authorities in Yemen, a key partner in the U.S.-led war on terror but for years an al-Qaida stronghold, to round up a large number of suspects in the wake of a terror attack.
I dont think so personally but its early. Somalia is an interesting thought. And not necessarily someone released from jail recently. These things do take a bit of time. The article makes the point that its the largest attack on a US facility since 9/11.
Deadly Training Ground
Are Al Qaeda fighters returning home from Iraq to launch new attacks against U.S. targets?Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 17, 2008 | Updated: 6:32 p.m. ET Sep 17, 2008
The car bombing outside the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, which killed 16 people Wednesday, is the deadliest single terrorist attack on a U.S. government facility since September 11—and, say U.S. counter-terrorism officials, it is a powerful reminder that Al Qaeda and its allies remain a lethal force on the Arabian Peninsula.No Americans were hurt in the early morning attack in which militants—armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades—sought to penetrate the heavily fortified compound that surrounds the U.S. Embassy in Sana. But a subsequent gun battle with Yemeni security forces and an explosion set off minutes later by suicide bombers, killed more people than any terror attack aimed at a U.S. government or military installation outside Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, U.S. officials said.
“The answer is yes. This is the largest attack against a U.S. facility since 9/11,” a U.S. counter-terrorism official (who asked not to identified by name) e-mailed NEWSWEEK in response to questions. That grim milestone could undercut claims of overall success in the war on terror. Indeed, Yemen—as much as Pakistan and Afghanistan—remains a country where U.S. counter-terrorism efforts have been hampered by repeated setbacks.
Almotamar.net - Deputy Premier for Defence and Security Affairs Dr Rashad al-Alimi affirmed Thursday that the terrorist operation that attempted the attack on the American embassy in Sana’a comes as reaction to and retaliatory operations especially after the blows received by the terrorist elements at the hands of the security apparatuses.
Al-Alimi said were it not for the wakefulness of security men, their bravery and ability to end up the terrorists and blasting their car bombs a disaster could have happened. He pointed out that most of the attacking terrorists were carrying explosive belts and they used large quantities of gas cylinders to create a huge explosive and destructive power.
The terrorist attack on the American embassy in Yemen led to the death of 6 security men in addition to three wounded. according to 26 September newspaper in its Thursday issue it said among the civilian people killed in the incident were a Yemeni man and a woman , an Iraqi man and an Indian woman.
NYT: The official also said that an initial review of security videotapes taken outside the embassy indicated that as many as three of the attackers were wearing suicide vests, another hallmark of Al Qaeda. Two attackers detonated or partially detonated their vests; a third attacker was shot by Yemeni security forces before he could blow himself up.
Statement - Attack on U.S. Embassy, Sana’aSeptember 17, 2008
This morning, September 17, at approximately 9:15 local time, the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a Yemen was attacked by armed terrorists. A number of explosions occurred in the vicinity of the Embassy’s main gate and there were several secondary explosions. A number of Yemeni security personnel were killed and injured, as were several Yemeni citizens waiting to gain entry to the Embassy.
The U.S. Embassy condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms. Today’s events demonstrate that terrorist criminals will not hesitate to kill innocent citizens and those charged with protecting them in pursuit of their agenda of terror.
The Embassy is working closely with senior Yemeni government officials to investigate this incident. We will rely on continued close cooperation with Yemeni authorities to complete a thorough investigation and to bring the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist crime to justice.
yemen.usembassy.gov
AAC(AFP)
Yemen Islamists claim Qaeda link, threaten more attacks
The group that claimed responsibility for an attack on the US embassy in Yemen that killed 16 people said on Thursday that it belongs to Al-Qaeda, threatening more attacks against authorities in the region and Western interests there.“We, the Organisation of Islamic Jihad, belonging to the Al-Qaeda network, repeat our demand of (Yemeni President) Ali Abdullah Saleh to free our detained brothers within 48 hours,” said a statement signed by self-described leader Abu Ghaith al-Yamani.
The statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, warned that the Yemeni authorities would open themselves up to grave consequences if they did not comply.
It also said the group would continue attacks “against Western interests” and Yemeni public figures, and threatened to attack the Saudi embassy in Sanaa.
The family of Susan Ali Elbaneh, a US citizen, confirmed she was killed today in the terrorist attack in Yemen. The 19 year old Yemeni-American was one of the civilians killed outside the embassy during the attack. The newlywed Elbaneh was killed alongside her husband of two months, a family member reported. Susan Elbaneh is a relative of Yemeni-American Jaber Elbaneh who is on the FBI’s most wanted list. Yemen has refused to extradite him. There are no indications that Ms. Elbaneh’s presence at the embassy was anything more than a random occurrence. She accompanied her sister in law who had an appointment with the embassy. A Yemeni American child aged three, Ms. Elbaneh’s nephew, may also be among the casualties. Ms. Elabaneh was outside watching the boy while her sister-in- law was in the embassy.
Its a bitter irony that the terrorists achieved their goal of killing “Americans” and it turns out to be this 19 year old Yemeni-american girl on her first trip to Yemen and a three year old.
Ok it hit-
Yahoo: SSusan Elbaneh, 18, a U.S. citizen from Lackawanna, N.Y., who was recently wed in Yemen in an arranged marriage, was killed along with her Yemeni husband as they stood outside the embassy, family members said Wednesday. They were apparently there to do paperwork for the husband’s move to the U.S. when the attackers struck, said Elbaneh’s brother, Ahmed.Elbaneh’s family was gathering at her father Ali’s house Wednesday afternoon.
Two FBI agents who arrived to speak with family members at the home would not comment beyond saying they were there to talk to the family.
Relatives acknowledged, however, that Susan Elbaneh is related to Jaber Elbaneh, who is in custody in Yemen and faces U.S. charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. They stressed that had nothing to do with Susan, saying she was an innocent victim of Wednesday’s attack.
Elbaneh, a high school senior, was among eight children in the family, which her brother described as “huge and close-knit.” Ahmed Elbaneh said she planned to return to New York with her new husband, finish school and become a nurse.
She had been in Yemen for a month for the marriage on Aug. 25.
“She was excited. We threw her a shower. It wasn’t like we were worried about anything. Tragedies happen. They are innocent victims in all of this,” Ahmed Elbaneh said.
