Two Students at Dar al Hadeth Islamic Institute, Dammaj Killed in Weapons Training Incident
The shooter was a British student. Al Hadath is the site (listed as govt affiliated, not Houthi) that published the following, and this may be the direct link to the article:
The death of two students in training camps Dammaj Salafi Saada
تاريخ النشر: 2009-10-12 Date Published: 2009-10-12
لقي اثنين من الطلاب الدارسين بدار الحديث بصعدة مصرعهم صباح اليوم الاثنين على يد زميلا لهم يدرس في الدار . Least two of the students studying modern Dar Saada died early Monday morning at the hands of their colleagues studying in the home.
وأكدت مصادر مطلعة أن الطالبان قتلا برصاص زميلهما أثناء عمليات التدريب على استخدام الأسلحة المتوسطة والقنص في دار الحديث التابع لجماعة الوهابيين بمنطقه دماج . Well-informed sources that the Taliban were shot dead by colleague during training in the use of medium weapons and hunting in the modern home of the Wahhabi group Dammaj area.
وكشفت المصادر إن الطالب الذي أطلق النار على زملائه عربي ويحمل الجنسية البريطانية والمقتولين أحدهما من أبناء يافع والآخر من صعدة. The sources revealed that the student who opened fire on his fellow Arab and holds British citizenship, and killed one of our young and the other from Saada.
يذكر أن مركز الوهابيين أو ما يسمى بالسلفيين بمحافظة صعدة يمد قوات الجيش بمقاتلين في المواجهات الدائرة مع أتباع الحوثي . The status of the so-called Wahhabis salafis Sa’ada governorate extends Army fighters in the confrontations with the followers of Huthi.
Dammaj in Sa’ada is the flagship school of the Dar al Hadeth network of Salafi Islamic Institutes. There are eight main schools (not including the Marib school led by the Egyptian al Masri who is an outcast), in addition to publishing houses and dozens of smaller outposts. The leading scholars of the main schools visit the other schools for specialized lessons. The combined number of students among the eight schools is probably several thousand but not all get weapons training. Related:
Days before September’s federal election, authorities in five German states raided 19 apartments belonging to suspected Islamists. The respected German newspaper, Die Frankfurter Allgemeine, reported that the raids targeted German converts who were recruiting for a Koran school in Yemen. The paper quoted sources from German security circles who maintained the school’s operators are closely connected with al Qaeda and suspected the school also serves as a military training camp for “numerous converts from Europe and the United States.”
Dar al Hadeth does train many foreigners, including Americans. (Its a good idea to keep an eye on anyone who changes their name from Carlos to Mujahid ). The school receives support and protection on many levels from the Yemeni government itself, some quite overt like jobs for its graduates. Other support includes weapons and physical protection by security forces. There have been some incidents of clashes with the Houthi rebels. Funding for the schools operations also comes from Saudi and the Gulf. Many of the Yemenis held at Gitmo were sent to Afghanistan from Dammaj, which the US military describes as a known terror training facility.
Update: 9/27/09 AFP article, google translated from German:
According to “FAS” suspected of converts, “are promoting an Islamist center in Yemen.” When the prime suspect if it were the Germans, Alexander F. from the southern half Weilheim, who had long resided in Yemen. Together with two German Islamists from Freiburg, who both live in Yemen, he had recruited converts and other Muslims from Germany to attend the Dar-ul-Hadith madrasa in Dammaj.
The operators of the school in the Yemeni civil war area maintained “close ties to al Qaeda,” the newspaper reported. It was believed that “military training camps were connected to the school.” In the madrasa, according to abide by the “FAS” quoted security circles many converts from Europe and the United States. Including ten Muslims in Germany should be, among them six converts. Several people whose homes were searched, are also close links to one of the suitcase bomb from Cologne have had. ”
