Al Qaeda in Yemen Issues Assassination Video
The video is of the assassination of a security chief who al Qaeda claimed was complicit in the death of al Harithy in 2002. What a crazy world, the poor guy. At least they didn’t behead him, the way these murderers do in other parts of the world. Its interesting the way al Harithy’s death is considered un-avenged, while Fawaz al Raibi’s 2006 killing didn’t strike the same tribal cord. One distinction is that the US killed al Harithy (and US citizen Kamal al Darwish) with Predator drone. Perhaps the broader message is a threat against the same type of (rather effective) aerial targeting of terrorist leadership by the US as occurs in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and in parts of Africa. The video doesn’t show the moment of death and follows the other “al Qaeda assassination” of the three security chiefs in revenge for the killing of Hamza al Qaiti that triggered the protests in Hadramout, demanding the regime bring the true killers to justice.
DUBAI, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s wing in Yemen said it shot dead an abducted Yemeni security official, and issued a video showing him on Islamist websites on Thursday.
“I advise people not to get involved in actions (such as mine) … and not to be drawn into working for American intelligence,” said a blindfolded man, identifying himself on the video as Bassam Tarbush, a provincial security official.
The video showed group members preparing to shoot Tarbush, kidnapped in June according to Yemeni media, for spying on Islamic militants, but the actual shooting was not shown. The footage later carried a still photograph apparently showing his corpse with facial cuts.
SANAA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — A captured senior Yemeni anti-terrorist officer were confirmed to be “executed” by an al-Qaida group with a video showing his killing posted on the Internet, an official of the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
Bassam Tarbush, 41, major of the combating terrorism unit in Marib province, northeast the capital Sanaa, was kidnapped by al-Qaida in June 2009, said the official on condition of anonymity.
“The video is also transferred between cellular phones through Bluetooth in Marib, Al-Jawf, Hadramout, Abyan and Aden provinces,” the official told Xinhua.
Al-Qaida members said in the video that Tarbush was allegedly behind the assassination of top al-Qaida leader Ali Qaed Sunian al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali, who was killed in Marib province by a U.S. Predator drone in 2002.
“Spy Tarbush was one of the Yemeni anti-terror security officers who collaborated with the American intelligence services to arrest and assassinate al-Qaida leaders in Yemen,” the video added.
On Nov. 5, the same al-Qaida group in Yemen, which was called “Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,” claimed responsibility for a fatal ambush that killed two Yemeni security officers along with their four escorts in southeast Yemen.
