Armies of Liberation

109 were released from jail in January 2009, in a deal with Yemen’s president but there was a different name then.

Yemen Post: A high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen was killed Sunday in a clash between several suspected militants of Al-Qaeda and security forces in the province of Abyan in the south of Yemen, a senior Interior Ministry official confirmed to the Saudi Okaz newspaper.

The official was quoted as saying the Saudi national was killed while five others have been seized by the security forces. “Seven Al-Qaeda members were also killed in the shooting.”

Meanwhile, local sources revealed on Monday that security forces were sent out to track down the about 60 Al-Qaeda members, who were believed to be members of the Yemen’s Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Al-Qaeda group in Abyan province. (Read on …)

Al Qaeda escaped from Lauder somehow (Ali Mohsen). They are correct in noting the official media is a disinformation machine.

Yemen Post: At least 9 soldiers were killed when armed men attacked a security checkpoint in Yemen’s Southern Abyan Province, where many were killed and injured during fierce clashes between the security forces and suspected Al-Qaeda militants last week. (Read on …)

Saleh never keeps his promises to anyone. He’s a compulsive liar or has some pathology where he’s unable to keep his word. But this mechanism of negotiation with al Qaeda really isn’t working and hasn’t worked for quite some time. If all the jihaddists Saleh made a deal with band together, its going to get ugly. Al Zaidi surrendered in June after being released from jail in 2006. ( Click here for an interview with al Zaidi in 2009 in which he discusses his imprisonment and prior dealings with Saleh. Al Zaidi says he was never a member of al Qaeda and was imprisoned because he was a personal friend of Mohammed bin Mohammed al Ahdel. )

News Yemen: A leading member of al-Qaeda in Yemen has renounced an agreement with the government to stop violence and terrorist activities in the country, independent source reported on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with the Yemeni independent weekly Al-Wasat, Khalid al-Zaidi, a leading member of al-Qaeda in the northern province of Mareb, said that his agreement with the government not to cause any instability in the country has been renounced.

Al-Zaidi said he met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh last June and wrote a pledge not to carry out any sabotage acts in the country on condition that the government releases al-Qaeda prisoners and cancel all convictions against him. He said that “the agreement has failed as the government has not fulfilled what we have agreed upon.” (Read on …)

Its the same type of charges they brought against al Khaiwani but the world objected. They lie so often that its difficult to believe anything. Shaea is BFF with Anwar Awlaki and interviewed Fahd al Quso and Nassir al Wahishi, by itself, not a crime. We’ll have to see what the next magazine looks like.

Security source said that the case of the journalist Abdualah Shai’a will soon be referred to public prosecutor in preparation for his trial, pending the completion of investigations. The Security authority has accused Shai’a as being an active affiliate of al-Qaeda offering logistical support to the leadership and its members.

According to the security Shai’a offered cassettes from al-Qaeada operations in Yemen to the media and received money which he used to support the organization. The security authorities also concern Shai’a as one of the most enthusiastic defenders and promoters of al-Qaeda and its operations through the satellite channels where he presents himself as an expert on al-Qaeda. (Read on …)

UPI: (Yemeni) Authorities claimed they killed 27-year-old Adel Saleh Hardaba in Lawdar, who was described by authorities as the second-in-command of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Jazeera reports.

In an earlier statement, TAJ identified the bystanders wounded as:
 Bassam Saleh Hardabah
 Mohamed Saleh Nasser
 Maged Mohammed Marzouki
 Abdurabbo Ahmed Dhmah
 Bassam Albilali
 Maged Saleh Hardabah
 Abdulla Almanssoury

Adel Saleh Hardaba, according to locals, was 18 years and unemployed. He was not wounded (its not name confusion). The story is he was arrested by the Yemeni regime in Lauder. Apparently he was killed after the arrest.

The Australian wonders what the heck is going on in Lauder and its a good question. How can we know when all the journalists are in jail? There’s difficulty even identifying the sides in the conflict, as there was in Ja’ar in 09 when the state’s jihaddists including al Nabi and Sami Dayhan were fighting another group intent on establishing an Islamic emirate in the city. Things went so far that several suspected homosexuals were killed and other Taliban style gross brutality occurred.

via al SahwaFAR from Afghanistan, Iraq and the flood plains of Pakistan, a bitter siege played out this week between al-Qa’ida and an American ally. Or did it?

The first reports from the siege of Lodar, in southern Yemen, told of 80,000 people fleeing as government forces encircled the town, dropping leaflets instructing residents to flee before a big offensive against al-Qa’ida militants hunkered there.

The next report revised the number of residents fleeing down to 3000, with 200 al-Qa’ida militants and 200 fighters from the secessionist Southern Movement holding the town. Yesterday the Yemeni government hailed its conquest of Lodar, having “stormed the dens of the terrorists”. Its count of al-Qa’ida fighters killed came in at 12. (Read on …)

Ali Saleh played his game so well, that the blowback is coming to haunt him. The deliberate conflation of state jihaddists with the AQAP nucleus got a lot of people confused. There’s no doubt that AQAP has global ambitions but its the subverted members of the security and other social figures that enable their capacity and legitimize their message. Update: AP: gee al Qaeda is now the main threat, Saleh says. The guy can turn on a dime.

Yemen says US exaggerates Al Qa’eda threat The national: SAN’A // Yemen said today that US officials have exaggerated the size and danger of al Qa’eda in Yemen, and insisted that fighting the jihadist network’s local branch remains San’a’s job.

A Yemeni official has denied what he called “press leaks published in US and Western media that exaggerate the size of al Qa’eda and the danger that it poses to Yemen’s stability and security,” according to Saba, the state news agency. (Read on …)

I was hoping the Afghan anti-corruption model could be replicated in Yemen, but with the CIA as part of the corruption in Afghanistan, its not very promising. Wasn’t the CIA paying the al-Qaeda supporting mass murderer, Ali Mohsen al Ahmar? I thought the book by Kaplan said as much. But its a few years old, maybe they wised up. Its bad to leak info to the media but its more immediately deadly to leak it to the Yemeni regime.

AP: The Obama administration on Friday accused an analyst who worked at the State Department of leaking top secret information about North Korea to a reporter. Steven Kim, who worked at State as an employee of a contractor, maintains his innocence.

He was named in a federal indictment unsealed Friday and charged with illegally disclosing national defense information, which carries a top penalty of 10 years in prison, and with making false statements to the FBI, which has a maximum five-year sentence. It was the latest move in an aggressive campaign to crack down on leaks, even as the administration has supported proposed legislation that would shield reporters from having to identify their sources.

Recent disclosures to news media have revealed the potential for using CIA drones in the counterterrorist fight against al-Qaida in Yemen, the close relationship of the CIA station chief in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the CIA’s practice of paying some members of the Afghan government for information.

1) What are they afraid of? Losing the case or exposing the Yemeni government officials complicity? Now that would be tacky. Nashiri got weapons permits and travel documents from the Interior Ministry and one report says he hid out in Yemen for months after while the Y govt denied he was there. 2) The old military commissions worked fine, the “reformed” commissions are supposed to be even better somehow. 3) What an insult it is to the US service members and the families of the deceased that politics again is determining US policy toward terrorists.

Boston.com: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing.

The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major Al Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden. (Read on …)

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies strongly condemns the Yemeni army’s shelling in the Lawdar district in the Abyan province, Southern Yemen, which has severely harmed the civilian population located there.

It is with deep concern, that CIHRS observes the nearly week-long shelling campaign, supported by heavy artillery and tanks, which has prompted hundreds of Yemeni families to flee the Lawdar district and take refuge in the mountains as the authorities continue their military siege of the area, sealing off all entrances and exits. According to information received from Yemeni human rights organizations and other sources, at least three civilians have been killed and dozens more injured, among them at least two children, while the artillery fire hit a local market and severely damaged homes, agricultural land, and a nursery.

The assault was launched after several Yemeni troops were killed in an ambush by either al-Qaeda operatives, as the Yemeni authorities claim, or elements involved with the Southern Movement. Exiled Southern Yemeni officials and leaders of the Southern Movement state that the attack was launched in an attempt to turn the international community against the peaceful Southern Movement by associating it with terrorism. It should be noted that the Yemeni regime used Yemeni fighters returning from Afghanistan to quell the rebellion in the South in 1994. Consequently, al-Qaeda began to establish a base in the area, which later became the largest in the Arab world.

The Yemeni authorities have persistently sought to stigmatize the popular protest movement and its leadership in the south as terrorists, in an attempt to justify the use of excessive force and increasing repression against citizens in the Southern provinces.

CIHRS would like to bring attention to the fact that the Southern province of Abyan has been the target of a series of brutal attacks over the last year. One of the bloodiest attacks took place in December 2009 ; when the Yemeni army, with support from the U.S. government, launched two air strikes on alleged al-Qaeda camps. At least 42 civilians were killed in these raids, most of which were women and children.

CIHRS stresses that counterterrorism efforts against al Qaeda should not be used as a pretext for the international community to turn a blind eye to the grave abuses perpetrated by the Yemeni government against individuals suspected of affiliation with al-Qaeda; or against the regime’s political opponents. A noticeably large segment of the citizenry has become the target for various types of collective punishment in light of the militarization of the country and the civil strife being stoked by the regime in the Sa’ada region, North of Yemen, and the South to secure its monopolization of power. In this context, CIHRS would like to bring attention to the fact that it is these very policies that created such fertile ground for al-Qaeda to grow in the Arabian Peninsula.

Additionally, These policies have created an auspicious atmosphere for the recruitment of more terrorists and terrorist-sympathizers, both from inside and outside Yemen.

CIHRS further warns that the unconditional support given to the Yemeni regime by the U.S. administration and some parties in the EU will only exacerbate the dangers of terrorism. Numerous individuals are swayed to terrorism on a daily basis, driven by their growing sense of injustice and injury, which is fed by the daily practices of extrajudicial killings; abductions; forced disappearances; torture; repression of peaceful protests; vicious attempts to silence the press and human rights defenders; the increasing political, economic, and social marginalization of broad swathes of the population; the rampant spread of corruption; in addition to the spread and ascendancy of an extremist religious discourse fostered by the Yemeni regime itself.

Thus, CIHRS believes that averting the threat of terrorism requires concerted efforts by the international community to push Yemen to construct a rule of law; prevent impunity for grave human rights abuses; adopt an enlightened religious discourse; and refuse to sacrifice human rights under the justification of combating terrorism. Yemen’s allies in the fight against terrorism must guarantee that the military, security, and financial aid given to the Yemeni government is not used to perpetrate more war crimes and crimes against humanities or violate the rights of suspected al-Qaeda members or the thousands of Yemenis civilians who are paying a catastrophic price for the policies of the Yemeni regime, which threaten to bring about the wholesale collapse of the central state.

CIHRS

Update: Authorities admit Safain surrendered but no indication he’s in jail. I thought the Tays group had a lot of positions in the military, honey businesses, conduct smuggling to SA and were active in the Sa’ada war against the Houthis.

Yemen Post: Ali Husayn Abdullah Al-Tays was member of Al-Qaeda and ex-detainee in Guantanamo gave up to Yemen’s security authorities and showed readiness to cooperate with the government, according to the same sources.

Earlier this month, another Al-Qaeda operative, Jomaan Safian, surrendered to authorities in Al-Jawf province. Safian reportedly harbored dozens of foreign Al-Qaeda operatives and provided financial l support to the organization.

Begin original:
The president of Yemen, Field Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh, met with the leader of Al Qaeda in al Jawf, Jomaan Safian, Mareb Press reports. The Emir of al Qaeda in al Jawf, Safia turned himself in to the security services, wasn’t arrested but met with President Saleh. In exchange for medical treatment for his father abroad, YR 1 million and some jobs for his family, Safian assured the president that he rejected al Qaeda and that the rest of the cell in al Jawf would be under control (until of course Saleh needs them for something.) Safian was released after few hours of meeting. Unfortunately, few of Saleh’s deals with al Qaeda figures have worked for as long as planned or as necessary.

Marib Press: أكد مصدر قبلي وقريب عائليا من أمير القاعدة في محافظة الجوف الواقعة شمال شرق العاصمة صنعاء أن أمير القاعدة في محافظة الجوف جمعان صافيان، الذي قالت أجهزة الأمن اليمنية أنه سلم نفسه لها قد التقى بالرئيس علي عبد الله صالح وتم الإفراج عنه بعد ساعات من اللقاء الذي جمعهما. A source with me and close family of the prince of al Qaeda in al-Jawf province, located northeast of the capital Sanaa, the Emir of al-Qaeda in al-Jawf province Jamaan Savian, who said the Yemeni security services he turned himself in her had met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh was released hours after the reunion was .

ونقلت صحيفة الدار الكويتية عن مصدر قبلي ” أن الرئيس اليمني قام بصرف مليون ريال يمني كمكافأة شخصية لصافيان على موقفه وقناعاته الجديدة. Dar was quoted by the Kuwaiti source of me, “that the Yemeni President regardless million Yemeni riyals a reward personal Savian to his position and the new convictions. (Read on …)

They are all coming back to haunt us, every single one. Nassib was a former intelligence officer, acquitted in the USS Cole bombing. He survived the 2002 air strike on al Harithy, was captured with Dr. Fadl in 2004. Nassib was released in 2006, after the big prison break by 23 al Qaeda operatives.

AFP: The latest deaths add to an earlier toll of 11 soldiers and three civilians killed on Friday. The defence ministry said it had managed to identify one of the slain Al-Qaeda fighters as Adham Shibani, adding that the wounded militants were currently being interrogated.

The security forces were tracking “other terrorists” who took part in Friday’s fighting, the ministry said. The militants who managed to flee were named as Ahmed Mohammed Abdu Daradish, Abdel Rauf Abdullah Mohammed Nassib and Jalal Saleh Mohammed Saidi. (Read on …)

Critical Threats.org has a lovely timeline.

and promises to be good! Of course if he’s going to “serve the country,” he can’t stay in jail. There are/were a lot of this group in Sa’ada. Update: Yemen Times Released from Gitmo to Yemen in Dec. 2006: Esam Hamid Al-Jaefi, Ali Hussain Al-Tais, Mohammed Ahmed Al-Asadi, Tawfiq Al-Murwai and Muhassen Al-Asskari.

Lahj News Net: A security source said an official former detainee at Guantanamo Bay and a member of Al Qaeda (Ali Hussein al Tais) surrendered to security forces and expressed regret and remorse to the period spent in the ranks of al Qaeda and expressed its readiness to cooperate all that would serve the country and maintaining security and stability, and called on other items that were deceived by the organization to follow in the delivery of the same security services and to renounce violence and integration into society and contribute to nation-building process. (Read on …)

Al Qaeda declared war on all Yemenis in a recent statement: any one with a government job or walking past anything western deserves to die, the statement said. The death squads have killed dozens of police and soldiers.

SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) – Two soldiers were killed in an attack of al-Qaeda on Thursday in Apian governorate, a security source said on Friday. The source told the ruling party-run almotamar.net that the some affiliates of al-Qaeda have carried a sudden attack with machine guns on a number of security men in a public souk and escaped. The attack has left, in addition to the two killed, a wounded soldier. The security authorities have tightened security measures in the governorate and begun hunting the attackers.

ID’s

SANA’A, Aug. 20 (Saba) - The security services in Abyan governorate managed to find out the identities of the perpetrators involved in killing 36-year-old Sergeant Sultan Abd-al-Karim al-Shar’abi, a security source in Al-Mahfid Security Department has said. The Interior Ministry said that the investigations revealed the involvement of three persons in setting an ambush for al-Shar’abi on 13 August.

The three perpetrators are: Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah (27), Yaslam Ali Hadi Laksar (35) and Salim Ali Hadi Laksar (22). They are all from al-Mahfid District. The Ministry showed that the three perpetrators are at large, but a search operation is underway to arrest them.

Update:

(Reuters) - Twelve Yemeni soldiers have died in two days of clashes with gunmen suspected of being al Qaeda militants, a local official said, the latest in a string of attacks on security personnel in south Yemen since June. (Read on …)

Apparently Saed al Shehri and the brothers sat around chewing qat and predicting the future and dreaming of destruction and kamikaze attacks.

August 18, 2010 — Brookings: Al Qaeda is warning its supporters and sympathizers to prepare for a new war in the Middle East, which it says will pit Israel against Iran. Al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, the self-styled al Qaeda in the Arabian Pennisula (AQAP), issued an audio message this month with a lecture by its second-in-command Saeed al Shehri in which he tells jihadists in the Middle East that “what is expected is for the war to begin by the Jews against Iran.” Israel will stage air strikes on Iran’s nuclear installations to start. Shehri expects the Iranian Shia regime to try to take advantage of an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities to seize the holy cities of Mecca and Medina by blaming Saudi Arabia for helping Israel attack. In turn, the Israelis will seize territory in the Levant to establish “the greater state of Israel.” The Sunni Arab population of the Middle East will be caught between the “Jews in the Middle East and Iran in the Peninsula.” (Read on …)

That’s one way to look at it. Alternately millions in Yemen believe that state contracted out the attacks on the security in the south, and its all another ploy to make Saleh look like a victim of al Qaeda. After his long history of detente with al Qaeda, he has so little credibility that many doubt he is making sincere efforts. But the author of the article is correct in saying the substantial AQAP attacks all failed.

Yemen Post: With the growing number of Al-Qaeda attacks on governmental security officials, some tend to believe that this proves that Al-Qaeda is as strong as ever in Yemen. I believe the opposite. Killing security officials is not a complicated matter to plan nor does it cost a lot.

The effort for killing a government official is little, as it needs little planning and costs no more than $10 dollars! A couple of bullets, gasoline money for a motorcycle and a couple of loyal followers you are willing to do the attack free of charge are all you need.

The last major attack by Al-Qaeda in Yemen was the U.S. embassy attack two years ago. Even that attack was spoiled completely. This only proves that their presence is not what media pictures it to be. The attack on the British ambassador in Yemen is another sign of weak Al-Qaeda presence in Yemen, as the bombing took place nearly 200 meters away from the car of the British ambassador. Original Al-Qaeda attacks are much more accurate and Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of how destructive Al-Qaeda can be when it attacks. (Read on …)

The US never brought “incitement to violence” charges against American citizens and jihaddist bloggers Anwar Awlaki, Samir Khan, Jesse Morton, Zach Chessler, and Yousef al Kattab. Meanwhile former federal stooge, racist blogger Hal Turner was convicted–after 14 months and three trials–of incitement to violence for a blog post saying he believed three judges were worthy of execution for a ruling against handguns. Turner was under a gag order while the freds were leaking his file to the Star Ledger. He was denied bail and wound up sharing a cell with an Aryan Nation murder after it was known Turner was a federal rat on the skinheads. Meanwhile Awlaki’s blog was online for years and hosted in the US. While the site may have had some intel value, it was never followed up on. Condolences to the Fort Hood families.

Later the US determined Anwar was operational in AQAP. Awlaki still hasn’t been indicted for incitement to violence, even after numerous persons said they were inspired to violence by Awlaki, including the two latest in Alaska. Awlaki himself claimed the mass murderer Nidal Hassan as his student as well as the would be killer Farouk Abdulmattalab. Anwar also ruled (as if he’s an actual cleric or something) that all Americans should be killed because they pay taxes and have the opportunity to vote. This is one of the issues the ACLU is bringing up- there’s no charges against Awlaki, just a capture or kill order.

Samir Khan ran the Inshallahshahid blog openly calling for jihad against Americans. Sami went to Yemen, apparently not on the no-fly list, and hooked up with AQAP. He is now thought to be the designer of the fanatics’ latest magazine, the English language Inspire. US authorities are just now wondering if Sami is guilty of anything and convened a grand jury to contemplate the question. They are considering if there is enough evidence to support a material support charge and conspiracy to murder, but not apparently incitement to violence. Yousef al Kattab, the Revolution Muslim blog founder, is now in Tetouan, Morocco. Apparently he was also not on no-fly list.

Joey was never charged with incitement to violence, although the RM blog is among the foremost English language proponents of violence under the banner of Islam and he posted specific death threats. Jesse Morton (Younis Abduallah) is another Revolution Muslim flunky, whereabouts unknown, uncharged. Zach Chesser called for the death of the South Park creators and posted their home addresses along with a picture of Theo Van Gogh dead with a knife in his chest. Zachy wasn’t charged with incitement to violence. Zachy became a RM administrator and was only pinched when he tried to go join al Shabab–bringing his infant son as cover. The only one is custody, indicted for material support, Zach flipped in a day and began cooperating with authorities. So the post-racial Obama administration brings a clearly malicious prosecution against a racist blogger but gives a pass to all the jihaddist bloggers. The DOJ, for the first time in a long time, has an overt political agenda in many areas. This is just one instance of selective application of the law. However, others have a more optimistic view.

GPB: One of the jihadi world’s most famous bloggers could be brought up on U.S. terrorism charges soon, NPR has learned. A federal grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., convened to consider evidence against Samir Khan, a 24-year-old North Carolina man who is thought to be the editor of Inspire, a new al-Qaida online magazine….Sources close to the case tell NPR the grand jury convened Tuesday to see if there was evidence enough to charge Khan with terrorism offenses. Among the charges people close to the case said the grand jury is considering: material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit murder overseas. The FBI, for its part, declined to confirm or deny there is an investigation. And the grand jury is unlikely to come out with any decision in the case for weeks. Grand jury deliberations are secret until indictments are announced….Intelligence officials now say they believe Khan’s al-Qaida patron was Anwar al-Awlaki, the same U.S.-born radical cleric linked to the Fort Hood shootings and the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. They say he invited Khan to Yemen and Khan packed his bags and went.

And another

ADEN, Yemen, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Suspected al Qaeda militants shot dead an intelligence officer in southern Yemen on Monday in at least the seventh attack officials have blamed on the group since June. An official in Abyan province said the officer, Abdulkarim al-Dalei, was killed in the provincial capital Zinjibar….In the capital Sanaa, security forces detained Abdulelah Shai, a journalist who is an expert on al Qaeda, his brother said on Monday. In July, Shai was briefly detained and interrogated about al Qaeda by the intelligence services. Shai, a freelance journalist, has made numerous appearances in international media as an expert on al Qaeda and is often described as having a close relationship with members of the militant group.

Reuters

SANAA Aug 14 (Reuters) – A Yemeni intelligence officer was killed by gunmen in south Yemen, a security official said on Saturday, in an attack blamed on al Qaeda.

The officer was gunned down by two men as he walked outside of his home late on Friday in the flashpoint southern province of Lahej, the official said, adding that the attackers were suspected al Qaeda operatives.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focused on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears now to be targeting government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-U.S. security coordination in government crackdowns on the militant group.

VOA News

Security officials in Yemen say an al-Qaida leader in the country’s north has surrendered to authorities. The officials said Juman Safian turned himself in on Saturday in the province of al-Jouf. They did not release additional details.

Yemen recently intensified its campaign against the group’s local branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, following a series of deadly attacks on government targets.

Earlier this month, al-Qaida threatened to target anyone who supports Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh or what it called the “crusader campaign” by the United States.

(Read on …)

The indigenous Yemeni counter al-Qaeda narrative holds that the brothers are corrupt as the regime itself and the state deploys al Qaeda as a political tool to create domestic and international pressure. This statement from the SMM in Lahj asserts the authorities are behind the string of assassinations which targeted southern members of the security forces. Others assert that they are killing off those who know the state’s secrets about its inner deals with al Qaeda. The official story line is that President Saleh reformed and is now facing blowback from his sincere efforts against al Qaeda. Aden Gulf.net :

Indicated that members of al-Qaeda in the south they follow the Sanaa regime and his soldiers:

A statement issued by a branch of the Supreme Council of the mobility of the peaceful province of pilgrimage that the Sanaa regime views the situation in the south read wrong and that he was not aware of the size of the variable that wrought will existed in the People in the south, they failed and failed practices and policies in the south, whatever their plans and their own ends, and the statement described the recent assassinations that targeted the southerners as well as some incidents that killed dozens of people in Aden and Abyan, Shabwa and Dali as a sinister plot designed to the south by the occupation regime in alliance with tribal figures and different terrorist organizations including al Qaeda, which dates back its source origin to the Yemen Arab Republic and tactics shameful and despicable aim to drag the South to the box to violence and fighting procedure and the creation of security chaos Bgit infanticide mobility demands the independence of South peaceful and freedom of the south, which, according to the statement of the impossible to be achieved to the occupation that .. (Read on …)

Anthony Shaffer is of course the agent who got totally screwed by DIA after trying to point out that the 9/11 commission skipped any inquiry into Able Danger’s (ignored) warnings two weeks prior to the USS Cole bombing in Aden. Although the Yemen hub was under close scrutiny prior to (and after) the attack, no warnings were generated from that intelligence either.

ABC: Anthony Shaffer is a CIA trained intelligence officer and a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve with more than 25 years experience in the intelligence community. He doesn’t have any sympathy for Anwar al Awlaki’s activities or his alleged terrorist connections, but he does think the US cleric is due what he calls “due process”.

“I think the best answer is to capture him and bring him back and have him stand trial,” he says. And he’s made another intriguing point. He believes Anwar Al Awlaki wants to be martyred. “He would become the Elvis of Al Qaeda if we kill him and so I think there’s a great downside to that,” he said. The lawyers who are now acting for Anwar al Awlaki’s father don’t know how far their legal case will get. But it’s certainly going to create a very awkward situation for the Obama administration.

Its really a fascinating article at Naba news about the dangers of state sponsorship of Salafism and its penetration into society, but Yahya Saleh is more a liberal or perhaps modernist than Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

Aden Gulf: نبأ نيوز ( موقع الامن القومي اليمني ) يصف السلفيين بالفئة الضاله ويتهمهم بالإنتماء لإيدلوجية تنظيم القاعدة ويحذر من خطورة تحالف علي صالح معهم News News (site of the Yemeni National Security) describes the Salafi deviant group and accuses them of belonging to the ideology of al Qaeda, warns of the danger of a coalition in favor of them (Read on …)

MEMRI: On August 10, 2010, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 15-minute audio recording from Sa’id Al-Shihri, aka Abu Sufyan Al-Azdi, the Saudi deputy commander of AQAP, who is also a former Guantanamo detainee. In the recording, Al-Shihri says that the organization has received communications from supporters of Al-Qaeda in the Saudi armed forces, who asked whether they should remain in their positions, or whether they should leave to join up with AQAP in Yemen. Al-Shihri tells them that they should remain in the Saudi armed forces and take advantage of their positions to further infiltrate the armed forces, carry out assassinations against the government, the royal family, and Westerners living in the country, and to provide logistical assistance to the mujahideen. (Read on …)

Al-Qaeda determines who deserves to live and die. Reuters

DUBAI, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based arm said it was behind an attack that killed at least six soldiers in an oil province last month, and threatened more strikes on government targets.

The attack in the southern Shabwa province on July 25 was among five raids on state targets since June which have been blamed on the resurgent militant group. (Read on …)

Arrested in 2008 in Hadramout, charges filed in 2010, trial date to be determined:

Yemen Observer: A total of 28 Al Qaeda suspects including a Saudi and an Egyptian nationals will be put on trial for charges of forming an armed gang for carrying out terrorist acts in Yemen, a prosecution statement said Saturday (8/7/10).

The statement said the Saudi national is called Abdullah Faraj Mohammed Al Jawbar, and the Egyptian is called Ibrahim Mohammed Saleh Al Bana’a. The Egyptian had 11 different names, the statement said.

Seven of the defendants will be tried in absentia including Shaker bin Hamel, Saleh bin Ali Jaber, and Mutaz ba Zabad, as fugitives from justice. (Read on …)

Focus:

Sanaa. A policeman was killed in an attack launched by alleged al-Qaida snipers on a security checkpoint in Yemen’s southeast province of Shabwa on Friday, a spokesman for the local police said, Xinhua informed. The spokesman told Xinhua that “some suspected snipers of al- Qaida group shot dead the policeman this afternoon who was on duty at a police checkpoint located in the south of Ataq, the capital city of Shabwa.” (Read on …)

Press Conference: State.gov,

Our coordinator of the office of counterterrorism here at the Department of State, Ambassador Dan Benjamin…Let me turn to Yemen. We recognize that al-Qaida has taken advantage of insecurity in various regions of Yemen that have been worsened by internal conflicts. We also know that Yemen is grappling with serious poverty and is the poorest country in the Arab world. The lack of resources inhibits good governance, the delivery of services and the effectiveness of the security provision that is needed to deal with terrorism. So to have any chance of success, U.S. counterterrorism policy has to be conceived in strategic and not merely tactical terms. That’s why the Administration has adopted a two-pronged strategy for Yemen: helping the government confront the immediate security concern of al-Qaida and mitigating the serious political, economic, and governance issues that the country faces over the long term.

US State Department Report on Terrorism 2009:

(11) The attempted December 25 bombing provided a further reminder that un- or under-governed spaces can serve as an incubator for extremism and underscored that we cannot expect al-Qa‘ida affiliates to be focused solely on the near enemy – the governments in their own countries and regions – or American facilities in their immediate surroundings.

(115) After the failed December 25 attempt on NWA Flight #253, in which Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had trained in Yemen with al-Qa‘ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), attempted to detonate explosives over the continental United States, the international community intensified its focus on Yemen‘s security situation, which continued to deteriorate in 2009. The Yemeni government‘s response to the terrorist threat improved dramatically in December, exemplified by the heightened pace of counterterrorism operations. Still, the government‘s focus on other internal security challenges, including the ―Sixth War‖ of the Houthi rebellion in the northern Sa‘ada governorate, which began in August and had not ceased by year‘s end, often diverted it from broader counterterrorism activities. (Read on …)

I think the al-Qaeda losers took “credit” for two of the five recent attacks on security installations in the south, but they may claim them all sooner or later. The Saleh regime has so little credibility in the south that southern leaders are openly asserting that the regime instructed al-Qaeda to carry out the spate of attacks and willingly sacrificed some soldiers to achieve several goals- heighten tension, accuse the southerners of being aligned with al-Qaeda, set the stage for assassinations of southern leaders and of course, dupe the west into increasing support. This latest murder spree took place in the vicinity of Tariq al-Fadhli’s home and near the Political Security headquarters. One of the attackers threw a stun grenade or “sound bomb” before opening fire (well trained and equipped). The attackers escaped. The regime is rounding up all motorcycle drivers. The prior attacks took place in Aden, Abyan and Shabwa where, despite the emphatic southerners denials, there are some al-Qaeda hangouts. Jarr in Abyan was a hot spot for remnants of the Abyan-Aden Islamic Army who began assassinating people suspected of irreligiosity in the spring of 09 until state-sponsored blue on blue fighting brought some control to the city. Shabwa is where al-Quso and Awlaki are, and Aden is Aden.

Sana’a, Yemen – Suspected al-Qaeda militants attacked a police patrol in southern Yemen on Thursday, killing three policemen, security sources said. The attackers threw a hand grenade and opened fire at the patrol vehicle near a checkpoint in Zinjebar city, the provincial capital of Abyan province, the sources told the German Press Agency dpa. (Read on …)

CNN:
Washington (CNN) — Federal authorities Wednesday granted two civil liberties groups a license they need in challenging the government’s authority to use lethal force against U.S. citizens designated as terrorists. (Read on …)

One Yemeni observer notes, “The ministry of interior identified the bomber as a 36 years old Hadi Ahmed Saleh from Kohlan district province of Sanaa. He was a soldier in the 35th brigade based in the city of Dhala.Some of his colleagues suggested that he was unaware that his motorcycle was rigged with explosives. When you have a regime that uses terror to blackmail the international community , the prospect of Yemeni intelligence role in such attacks is not far fetched .”

SaadaAden: Aden news agency suggested that the soldier was a “victim of a conspiracy carried out by malicious military officials in coordination with the intelligence of Yemen, where witnesses confirmed that the soldier came out of the leadership of the camp and started down the road towards the Public Security Department and did not know the mission objective.”

And a truly gruesome video of the deceased at Youtube. A less hysterical rundown from the YT:

Yemen Times: SANA’A, August 4 — Nine soldiers were injured when a soldier blew himself up in front of the Al-Dhale’ General Security Office last Tuesday.

Of the nine injured soldiers, two are said to have been seriously injured. A 15-year-old child was also injured as he was passing near the office.

It was reported on the army website 26th September that the deputy of Al-Dhale’ governorate, Abdulla Husain Al-Haddi, had accused Al-Qaeda of organizing the attack.

According to local sources, the soldier committed this suicide bombing because his salary had been suspended for months and he had not been treated well by his commanding officer.

According to reliable sources, Al-Qaeda cannot be behind this suicide bombing because the group is not present in the governorate, and some even think that the soldier himself may have unknowingly been rigged with explosives. (Read on …)

Al-Qaida attacks all over the world kill innocent civilians including in Yemen. One well documented total is about 85,000 Muslim civilian deaths in the last ten years but its a partial listing. The Yemeni government also kills innocent people but al-Qaeda’s convenient outrage is a joke. Another joke is their announcement that they are raising an army of 12,000. Its total propaganda, and as Yemeni power players, they do it very well. The numbers are still around 500 despite all their best efforts including the CD’s in the mosques. Hopefully the securocrats don’t go all knee-jerk as they are prone to. Globe and Mail

Al Qaeda threatened in an internet audio recording on Thursday to carry out more attacks on Yemeni forces following several suspected and confirmed Qaeda strikes on the government that have killed dozens.

Four assaults on state targets have been attributed to Al Qaeda’s Yemen based regional arm since June, though it has only claimed two of the attacks. The most recent attack by suspected militants in a southern oil province killed six soldiers.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focused high-impact strikes on foreign targets, but has started to aim them at the state in response to enhanced U.S.-Yemeni cooperation in a crackdown on the militant group that has included air strikes and raids. (Read on …)

Update: The state is blaming the southerners with another theory that the biker was tricked into delivering explosives to the intel HQ. The “suicide bomber” was a soldier from the 35th armored brigade.

Yemen Post: Security sources in Dhale Province said on Wednesday the southern separatist movement was behind the suicide attack against the police headquarters that injured 9 policemen, two seriously.
The Alsahwa website quoted the sources as saying elements from the movement asked the owner of a motorbike to deliver food for a detainee at the building and the meal was an improvised explosive device that was set off when the motorcyclist arrived at the building.
However, the sources revealed the motorcyclist was a soldier from Sana’a Province and his motorbike was packed with explosives while he was shopping in the Dhale market.
Saleh Ali Hadi was one of the personnel at the armored brigade 35, they said.
On Tuesday, the authorities said 8 policemen were wounded when the motorbike exploded at the gate of the police office. The office suffered damages as well.
Initially, they said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which claimed responsibility for recent attacks against offices of public security and intelligence in the south.
But other sources dismissed Al-Qaeda had been behind the bombing, saying the bomber might be used by another group that put explosives in his motorbike.

Original Post: Could be anything from intra-governmental wrangling to propaganda for the west to increasing muscle-flexing by the wild-eyed fanatics or violence by the southern fringe.

M&C
Sana’a, Yemen – Eight policemen were injured when a suicide bomber attacked a police headquarters in southern Yemen on Tuesday, police sources said. The sources told the German Press Agency dpa that the attacker blew himself up at the gate of the police building in al-Dhalea city, capital of the province of the same name. They said the attack bore the trademarks of al-Qaeda.

Someone lobs a grenade in Abyan, Yemen Observer: (Read on …)

Really.

MSNBC: Two civil rights groups today sued the US government, seeking the legal authority to challenge the Obama administration’s targeting of a radical cleric in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki — who may now be America’s most wanted terrorist.

The government says al-Awlaki has become one of the dominant recruiters of Americans for violent attacks on the homeland. He’s said to have communicated with Major Nidal Hasan before last year’s shootings at Ft. Hood and with Faisal Shahzad, who planted a car bomb in Times Square earlier this year. In addition, the FBI says he played a key role in the Christmas Day airline bomb plot. Intelligence sources say he has been the target of several unmanned drone attacks.

Now, the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights say they’ve been asked by al-Awlaki’s father to challenge the government’s targeting of al-Awlaki, who is a U.S. citizen, born in New Mexico. The groups say the government has improperly “asserted authority to use lethal force against U.S. citizens located far from any battlefield without charge, trial, or judicial process of any kind.” (Read on …)

Oh yes, that’s what Yemenis need is another foreigner inciting bloodshed. The lunatic Egyptian wants Yemeni clerics to declare jihad on the US. Certainly strengthens Saleh’s position with the US though, how handy.

Reuters: Zawahri, in his second message this month released on Islamist websites, also ridiculed Yemeni clerics, who he said promised jihad, or holy war, against the United States if it interfered in Yemen, but who he said ignored signs that the government was cooperating with U.S. forces.

Noting that Amnesty International had called on Washington to explain its role in Yemen, Zawahri asked: “Is Amnesty International more concerned about defending the Yemeni people than they (the clerics) are?”

Amnesty International released a report in June suggesting that the United States may be playing a role in Yemen after releasing photographs that showed remnants of alleged U.S. missiles and cluster bombs used in an attack in south Yemen.

“What more are they waiting for to call for jihad? … are they waiting for the U.S. soldiers to appear on the streets of Sanaa in their tanks?”

Al-Iryani also said AQAP presents a threat to Saudi Arabia more than Yemen, quite true. People’s Daily

A political advisor of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh denied on Friday that cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been radicalized in Yemen. (Read on …)

Saudi terrorist Al-Hamami surrenders.

Yemen Online: Yemen arrests the Saudi suspect in Shabwa patrol attack

YemenOnline.Jul25- Yemen security forces have arrested today the saudi suspect whi responsible on the deadly attack on a security patrol south of Yemen last Thursday. Ahmed Saleh Hedeij Al-Hamami was blacklisted on Saturday and his car wanted after the Interior Ministry said it was used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP to carry out the attack killing six soldiers. (Read on …)

Bingo. Yemen Post

Government Hoping for more Qaeda Attacks in South

The more attacks in the south means that the international community will support Yemen’s unity, fearing that if separation takes place, the south could be an Al-Qaeda safe haven.
Every Al-Qaeda attack in the south comes with great relief for the government and more pain for those who call for separation. The government gains even more financial support from the international community as it is funding Yemen’s fight against extremism.
So, it seems like President Saleh is finally getting something his way.
The last three Al-Qaeda claimed attacks took place in less than a month, and in three different provinces in the south, first in Aden, then in Abyan and Shabwa. It seems to me as if the government is linked to the Al-Qaeda attacks as it is the only one benefiting from the attacks and losing nothing.
Yemen is trying to picture to the world that the south is the backbone of Al-Qaeda, as it is also the homeland for its leader Osama bin Laden.
We also need to remember that Anwar Awlaqi, a Yemeni American preacher is from the south of Yemen. He is now internationally wanted for terrorism related claims.
Yemen is receiving almost $500 million dollars annually from western countries to fight extremism.
So, from the south comes oil, gas, cement, international support to fight Al-Qaeda, a 2000 kilometer coastal line, and 2/3 the size of the current Yemen, which proves that the northern part would do anything in its power to keep Yemen united.
We do not believe any attacks will take place in northern Yemen anytime soon, while on the other hand, we will see another attack in a different part of the south, maybe Mukalla or Seiyun. Such attacks will convince the west that southern Yemen could never be an independent state if it’s goal is to fight Al-Qaeda.

They seem to have it out for al-Gamish, the question is why. There was some flaky back story on al-Gamish earlier retaliating for not getting his cut on some land thefts and the blow-back from that. Earth Times

Sana’a, Yemen – Yemen’s wing of al-Qaeda on Friday claimed responsibility for a pair of week-old coordinated attacks on security agencies in the south of the Arab country, saying they were meant to avenge the killing of two of its members. (Read on …)

As reported by Terror Free Somalia:

After 10 days of investigation, leads are pointing to two Pakistani nationals who include a top manager at a Ugandan telecom company as the main financiers, and a Yemeni national as the mastermind of the July 11 synchronised bombings that killed at least 76 people in Kampala, reliable sources say.The new findings widen the investigation that had hitherto largely focused on the Al Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia reportedly with links to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for the bombings and issued a congratulatory message to the bombers.

The Yemeni national whose identity could not readily be established entered the country in January this year through the eastern Busia border post, sources close to the investigation say. He is then said to have approached a land lady in Kisigula Zone, Mutundwe, a Kampala suburb, for accommodation. He rented her six-bedroom house at Shs 600,000 per month for six months. He paid four months’ rent straight and promised to pay the balance later.The Yemeni man moved into the spacious house quietly, with a young man believed to be of Ugandan origin. In April, the Yemeni man stealthily left the house to the young man, who is now believed to have been the suicide bomber at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala, according to sources.The land lady, who doesn’t live on the premises, did not notice the suspicious behaviour of the young man and whenever she went to demand the balance on rent, the man would humbly tell her that his boss (the Yemeni) ‘had gone on safari and would be back soon to pay the money,’ our sources told us. In the meantime, the house became a bee-hive of activity with lots of people moving in and out, including teenage girls, sources told us.

Earlier on Uganda.

Update: attack was from a Saudi car registered to one on the Kingdom’s most wanted list. I guess they are not comparing the list of cars entering Yemen with the most wanted list.

SANA’A, July 24 (Saba) – A pickup with a Saudi number plate was used in Thursday’s attack on a security patrol in Shabwa Province in which five soldiers were killed, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The white car entered Yemen 17 days ago through the Alwadiah crossing, it said.

The ministry circulated the car throughout the country and blacklisted its owner identified as Ahmed Saleh Hudeij Al-Hamami, a Saudi.

Reuters – Gunmen killed at least five Yemeni soldiers on Thursday in a suspected al Qaeda ambush of a military convoy in the south, the third assault on state targets in five weeks blamed on the group’s resurgent regional arm.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focussed on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears now to be targeting government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-U.S. security coordination and a government crackdown.

“There was an ambush targeting the soldiers’ vehicle and five were killed and a sixth was wounded. There is suspicion that al Qaeda was behind the operation,” an official in the southern province of Shabwa told Reuters.

The attackers then seized the soldiers’ vehicle and weapons before fleeing into nearby hills, another official said. The defence ministry blamed the attack on “terrorists,” using language it typically reserves to refer to al Qaeda…Last month, gunmen raided the regional headquarters of the political security office in Aden, killing 11, an attack al Qaeda said was revenge for a state assault on a militant stronghold. Last week, more suspected al Qaeda gunmen attacked two security buildings, igniting clashes that killed four people.

Losers!!!

NYDNA slick new Al Qaeda magazine written in English to lure U.S. jihadists may be the work of a former New Yorker with an eye for graphics – and a lust for American blood. Intelligence officials see chilling similarities between a militant blog Samir Khan produced and the Internet-based magazine Inspire. Khan landed on intelligence radar in 2007, when he was 21, after posting an Osama Bin Laden screed to the blog he maintained from his parents’ basement.

The blog boasted crisp graphics, an easy familiarity with American culture and attitudes, and a pipeline to hard-core rhetoric. Fast forward to last month, when Al Qaeda put out Inspire, with the message that U.S. military action in the Arab world must be avenged. The packaging spooked experts with its potential for recruiting Western youth. It also seemed familiar to those who track militants, like the Jawa Report blog…

Khan has been in Yemen since October – and the mag was posted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen branch with ties to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki uses English to get his message out in the West.

(Read on …)

They plead guilty to lying about a hit list. Below is the State Department’s notice about Awlaki addition to the UN’s 1267 terrorism sanctions list. The list is meaningless in Yemen; Sheik Zindani is on it and his assets were not seized and in fact he traveled with President Saleh to Saudi Arabia a few years ago. Update: Zach Chesser, arrested after admitting to trying to join al Shabab, is another Awlaki drone.

NWCN: ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Alaska couple accused in a domestic terrorism plot is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to federal charges of lying about creating a hit list of possible targets. (Read on …)

It was billed by Awlaki as the first face to face confrontation between the military and AQAP. Does anyone really think that Anwar Awlaki was at the battle of Marib? Whoever wrote that post on his site at the time was still pumped with adrenaline. Let give it two years and see if the sentence is still standing.

July 7: AFP: A court in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday sentenced to death two young men suspected of being Al-Qaeda members for a series of lethal attacks. The men, Mansour Saleh Salem Daleel, 18, and Mubarak Ali Hadi al-Shabwani, 23, who denied the charges, were arrested on December 11 in the Marib province of eastern Yemen.

The pair were accused of “participating in an armed gang which carried out criminal actions against military and security officials and members of the armed forces,” according to the list of charges…The two men were likewise accused of killing three officials along with their two companions while they were driving on November 3 in the southern province of Hadramut. Also, the prosecution said they killed a soldier in a July 2009 attack on an army truck loaded with weapons and ammunition.

Mmareb Press reports some instances of civil disobedience following the sentencing of two from Marib, accused as al-Qaeda: He said a local source for “Marib Press” Gunmen, believed to have ties including convicted today of the Specialized Penal Court in Sana’a, they opened fire on a military post at the entrance to the city of Marib (point of the airport), had cut off the tribe (Al until you Ubaydah) by Whistler Sana after the verdict.

NEFA has an account of Awlaki’s write up which includes more misdirected artillery: “The army used artillery to bomb the houses of the brothers but the shells fell on houses of members of the tribe who were against the mujahideen. The fight started at noon July 30th and ended at sunset…The first face to face fight between the army and the mujahideen ended in a resounding victory for the mujahideen.”

Later reports indicate five dead, three security and two attackers. Al Teef is reporting that the gunmen shot up Tariq al Fadhli’s house after they left the scene of the attack.

At least two people are dead after gunmen attacked two security buildings in southern Yemen on Wednesday, local officials say. (Read on …)

The new Al Qaeda mag in English had pages of corrupted code but the second release includes an article by Anwar Awlaki calls for death for a cartoonist in Seattle. But since we all pay taxes and vote, everybody in the US is a “combatant” according to Awlaki and deserving of death, so it doesnt matter either way what anybody says or does,

Google News “The proper solution to this growing campaign of defamation” of the prophet is “the execution of those involved,” reads the article in web magazine “Inspire,” in a text provided by the US monitoring service SITE on Sunday. (Read on …)

It seems like such a simple story: Yemen upholds conviction of terrorists.

This is the Tarim cell arrested in Hadramout and convicted in the mortar attack on the US embassy in March 2008 and the murder of two Belgian tourists (killed when terrorists sprayed their car with gunfire in Hadramout) and other attacks during 2007 and 2008 in Sana’a, Aden and Hadramout Provinces against military, security and oil installations and residential complexes as well as security checkpoints, oil pipelines and foreign companies headquarters for a total of 23 attacks including the suicide bombing of the Sayoun police station. They confessed to receiving funds from Saudi Arabia but were planning on robbing banks for more.

In the case against the murders of the Spanish tourists, the al Qaiti cell was charged in the mortar attacks on the US embassy. Al-Waely and al-Dhayani are at large, the state reported in June 2009.

However, Ammar al Waeli is “at large” in Sa’ada fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government, Attagammua reported. See my article, Large al Qaeda camp in North Yemen dims peace prospects, politician says. There are many reports of Salafi on the battlefield.

Hamza al-Dhayani, the supposed driving instructor for the attack on the Spanish tourists and participant in the mortar attack on the US Embassy, recently surrendered from Marib. (Ghalib al-Zaidi also surrendered, to his cousin the governor of Marib.) In a previous interview, Hamza Dhayani accused the state of perpetrating some terror attacks, “I am ready to prove the reality that some attacks were planned in co-ordination and agreement of the Political Security and its agents to gain foreign support and to confirm to America that they (the Yemeni state) launch war against terrorism.” (Dhayani is not among the 16 whose sentences were upheld.)

Maybe next, Yemen will extradite the four Syrians in exchange for Anwar Awlaki’s brother in law, Nabil Al-Dhahab, who confessed on Syrian TV to a terror attack in Damascus.

The Yemen Post article on the ruling is posted below for posterity’s sake: (Read on …)

Yemen Observer: The Information Office of the rebel leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, launched an awareness campaign and educational activities in the areas of Sa’adah province, Sufyan district, and al-Jawf province last week about the dangers of “al-Qaeda,” according to al-Houthi and local sources in Sa’adah province. Al-Houthis described al-Qaeda as the “U.S. intelligence tool used by Washington to occupy any Arab or Islamic country under the pretext of combating terrorism.” (Read on …)

And they executed the police one by one.

AFP: Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for a deadly June attack on the country’s intelligence headquarters in the southern port city of Aden.

“Brigades of Jamil Nasser al-Ambari stormed Aden’s intelligence headquarters and the result was killing not less than 24 officers and soldiers,” said a statement posted on militant websites. (Read on …)

This appears to be the sequence of events: the storming of jail in Aden; round-up of suspected al-Qaida; protests; arrests; one dies in from an “asthma attack”; more protests. The people were not protesting the arrests of al-Qaeda suspects as the official media is suggesting. The southerners believe (true or not) the hunt for al-Qa’ida in Aden is a pretense in order to conduct security operations against secessionists. The assault on the jail may go back to some land theft scheme where al Qamish was cut out or that may just be an incidental side story. Its not al-Qaida’s first assault on the regime reflecting a new level of hostility as some suggest.

The National: Clashes renewed between the police and armed gangs after Friday prayers in Al-Saadah quarter in Yemen’s business capital of Aden, independent sources said.

Today’s confrontations were triggered by the death of a prisoner who was arrested when people took to streets on Thursday to protest mass arrests after Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack on the political security office in the province.

The cause of the death remained unclear.

Ahmed Al-Darwish was among about 9 people arrested in connection with the attack that the authorities said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.

Some reports noted that more than 20 arrests took place when police raided homes and carried out mass arrests in Al-Saadah and Alnasr quarters in Khour Maksar district known as hotbeds of armed outlaws and suspected terrorists.

Most of the arrested were suspected Al-Qaeda operatives, according to security sources. The raids triggered clashes between armed gangs and the police.

On Saturday, gunmen broke into the office in Al-Towahi city shooting bullets and detonating bombs at guards and civilians. Seven soldiers, three women and a child were killed and 15 others were injured.

A day later, the authorities said the mastermind of the attack had been arrested. He was identified as Ghawdal Muhammad Saleh Naji, who the authorities said was a terrorist.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry ordered the security forces to stay on heightened alert to face possible attacks and watch the southern coastline to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into the country.

Update: Apparently the security had no bullets. Yemen Times:

Last Saturday, armed people attacked the Political Security office in Al-Tawahi district, Aden governorate. They killed 13 people, including seven soldiers, four women and a child.

“What happened is a scandal,” private sources reported told the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. «Armed people attacked the Political Security office in Aden where the security guards could not stop them. They exceeded all the security barriers and entered the security office building without being shot at even once. In the end they departed the place chanting joyfully in a triumphant tone.”

The sources told the newspaper said that there are signs that the attackers were not confronted by the guards who had no guns. According to the locals in Al-Tawahi district, all people who were suspected to be working for political security secretly disappeared during the attack.

OP: That’s hysterical, al Gamish to investigate. Either al Gamish planned it or the arrests and subsequent jailbreak were the result of infighting like occurred with Hamza al Qaiti after all the mortars missed in 2008. There was quite a verbal sparring match between the two in which al Qaiti said he was betrayed by al Gamish. Then he got killed in a shoot-out (like al Fawaz al-Reibi and the Egyptian Dwieder). Head of the PSO, Al Gamish was promoted (or at least got a second position) after the 2006 jail break. He’s been around for decades. The PSO is largely subverted by al-Qaeda but then again, al-Qaeda is also largely subverted by the PSO and sometimes (some of them) act as mercenaries. It was Al-Gamish, along with Saleh who negotiated directly with Abu al Feida on behalf of al-Qa’ida back in 2006. Quite a favorable deal it was for both sides. Al Feida had nothing but praise for the way the Yemeni regime handles the brothers.

Yemen Post: Minister of information , Mr . Hasan Al-lowzi has conformed that Yemen is a partner for the international society in all plans and operations that aim to face terrorism and it is fighting its individuals , Al-thawranet reported.

He said also , responding the question of Al-arabia channel in terms of the armed attack of Al-Qaida in Yemen that aimed political security office in Aden , ” There is a supreme committee presided by General Ghaleb Alqamesh , chief of political security system and the deputy of interior minister , interrogating this event to know every thing about it” .

He clarified that this terroristic work was unexpected for a city that has settlement and security as Aden that he conformed it as a secured city and all its visitors recognize that .

He said ” Today we go to Aden and pass in its streets without escorts and arms , and what happened was unexpected for a city that really distinguished to have a strong security because it is totally forbidden to bear arms in Aden” .

And in terms of security situation in Yemen and efforts paid to face terrorism , Al-lowzi pointed out that there is a fight , country and people are fighting against terrorism works especially Al-Qaida , and war will not be ceased until the specific and marked purposes in security plans to be achieved .

Minister of information also said ” Yemen is fighting really against terrorism , and it is a partner for the international society at facing it and there are threats should be taken to consideration and to be on the alert in the all governorates .

Telegraph: A German and an Iraqi were among four men accused in a Yemeni court on Wednesday of plotting a suicide bomb attack to kill Tim Torlot, the British Ambassador to Yemen, in the capital Sana’a.

Rami Hens, a German citizen whose mother is Yemeni, was on trial over the alleged plot, a court official said.

The ambassador was in a convoy travelling to the embassy on an April morning when the bomb was detonated.

Really getting desperate, aren’t they? I guess the Saudi women didn’t come flocking to Yemen after al-Qa’ida’s last appeal to them for suicide bombers. Short of funds they are as well. Interesting how AQIY can distribute the CDs in such a systematic manner without drawing the attention of the state-funded Imams and security. Oh yes, it was actually the state funded Imams who first warned against US intervention in Yemen, threatening jihad in a statement. Yeah that was it. The AQIY zealots are hoping that US backing of the widely reviled dictator and his messy messy methods of counter-insurgency will create a backlash in their favor, not an improbable outcome even without the CDs, but there are a lot of other options for those with anti-government inclinations. Anti-US sentiments grew geometrically after the slaughter in Abyan (cluster bombs??!!) and the US’s extremely poor follow-up. (Nary a word. Even after the Yemeni government apologized, the US kept congratulating.) Inciting against US intervention incidentally and conveniently dovetails with Saleh’s position. This Abdulelah mentioned works for (gets a paycheck from) the state news agency SABA and is the brother-in-law of Abdulmajid al-Zindani, a long time Saleh loyalist. Abdulelah is the one who manages to interview all the top al-Qa’ida (including his bestest friend Anwar Awlaki, Nassir al Wahishi and Fahd “but I thought he was reformed” al-Quso) without a problem as we noted first in January 2009. We’ll file this about the CDs under the heading “flaky stuff”.

Yemen Post An unidentified group has distributed a CD at a number of mosques in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a that some people said contained interviews with Al-Qaeda leaders and videos about U.S. raids on terrorist targets in the country, independent sources said on Thursday.

Uthman Al-Ghamidi, Fahd Al-Qusa, Abu Musab Muhammad Saleh Umair and Saeed Al-Shari, all of the most wanted terrorist suspects by Yemeni and Saudi authorities, appeared in the CD speaking about U.S. crimes and calling for reviving Jihad, holy war.

They talked about terror raids that took place in late last year and early this year in Abyan, Shabwa and Sana’a with a focus on the raid in Almajalah district, Abyan, in which many were killed including civilians. Murdered terrorist Abu Umair was seen discussing Jihad with young Jihadists.

Abdul Elah Shaea, a local expert in terrorism issues, also appeared speaking about Al-Qaeda in Yemen including remarks he previously gave to Aljazeera Satellite Channel.

The CD was intended to incite the people against the U.S. intervention as concerns, mainly by the west, continued to grow about Al-Qaeda presence in the country and to praise the role of Al-Qaeda and its acts.

It also contained photos of some Arab leaders described as agents for the west including Egypt’s Mubarak and President Saleh.

Moron al Reimi below the fold.

Saudi Gazette
MARIB – Official sources have said that two Saudi nationals named on the Ministry of Interior’s list of 85 wanted terrorists were involved in last Saturday’s oil pipeline attack in the Yemeni region of Marib.
A Yemeni government source said that Saeed Al-Shehri – Al-Qaeda’s “second man” in the Arabian Peninsula – and the organization’s field commander Othman Al-Ghamdi were both involved, making it their first operation since joining up with the group in Yemen. The source added that three Yemenis – Qasim Al-Raimi, Saeed Ali Bin Jameel and Nasser Bin Douha – also took part in the bombing.
(Read on …)

I wonder is Sadiq al Ahmar, head of the president’s Hashid tribe, will join the coalition?

Yemen Post Leader of Bakil tribe, the largest Yemeni tribe, Sheikh Naji Abdul-Aziz Al-Shayef expressed his intention to call on the formation of a tribal coalition, includes leaders and sheikhs of the Yemeni tribes to stand by the government in its fight against the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen.

Al-Shayef told Okaz, Saudi media source that “the presence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen poses a real threat on Yemen human security and abilities of the people, so the fight against this organization and to renounce its elements remain people’s joint responsibility, however, tribes must have a role on this, because Al-Qaeda is a stray organization lurks in all the classes of people in Yemen”.

AQAP called on Friday the tribes in Yemen’s Marib Province, eastern Yemen to revolt against the government as the security campaigns against terrorist suspects have intensified in the area.

In a videotape by an unidentified spokesman for (AQAP), the group called the tribal leaders to distance themselves from “standing with Crusade”; stressing the need not to hand over any of its elements to the security authorities.

Sheikh Al-Shayef also warned of the negative consequences of covering up Al-Qaida and makes Yemen a safe haven to them. He added Yemen’s security and safety of its citizens is above all else.

Nasser Arrabee: Three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.

In this statement, Al Qaeda also denied issuing the prior statement that claimed responsibility for Sheik al Shabwani’s death. So then who issued that statement, the government? Holy Moley Batman, could someone be issuing false statements on behalf of al-Qa’ida? Gee, then there was the other false statement on behalf of the Awlaki tribe threatening the US…

For more see the Yemen Post and the following from M&C

Cairo/Sana’a, Yemen – The al-Qaeda network on Friday urged tribal leaders in Yemen not to turn over its fighters – also known as the ‘mujahidin’ – to the government, according to a statement published on Islamist websites.

The statement accused the government of killing ‘the innocent people as well as children and women, under the pretext that some members of these tribes are wanted,’ referring to the death of the deputy governor of Yemen’s Marib province last month. (Read on …)

Aden: 11 killed and 12 wounded
AQAP suspects set free from Political Security in Yemen

by Abdullah A. Qaid- For Armies of Liberation

Sana’a- 16 June- At least 11 were killed and 12 wounded Saturday morning in Aden, southern of Yemen, as unidentified gunmen attacked the Political Security office. Most of the dead people were soldiers.

The initial fingerprint of the operation is pointing to the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), security sources said.

About five gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed the security building in Attwahi with fired bullets and bombs that led to clashes inside the building.

During the attack, unknown numbers of prisoners suspected of being members of Al-Qaeda were set free by the operators, security source affirmed.

Although, the clash lasted for nearly half an hour, all the assailants together with the released prisoners escaped successfully.

Three women including the secretary of the director of the Political Security, along with a child was far from the Political Security, were among the dead persons.

The operation comes a day after a release by al-Qaeda threatened to ignite a fire under the earth what it called retaliation for the killing of women and children in Wadi Ubeeda of Marib.

The BBC correspondent in Sana’a quoted as a security source asked anonymity that the incident may come after collusion of security members within the political security.

The Attwahi district of Aden witnessed over the past months two explosions near the building of the Political Security and Television Broadcasting, in which the Director of the Political Security Attwahi and Al-Muala was killed.

According to Yemen News Agency (SABA), the Supreme Security Committee confirmed its intention to pursue the terrorist perpetrators and bring them to justice for their punishment and commended the cooperation of citizens in all provinces with the security services in calling upon everyone to report any presence of these misguided terrorist elements wherever they.

Update, AFP: They brought a bus. Witnesses also said the assailants “were seen leaving the building in a bus, taking people who had been detained there with them,” in what appeared to be a coordinated and well-planned operation.

Oh it just gets flakier and flakier: They all escaped in two cars with no prisoners after an hour of gun battles and RPG attacks. Another update: The local council denies and calls al Jazeera a liar.

(Read on …)

Global Times

Yemen government says al-Qaida kills 37 officials

Yemen’s government said Sunday that al-Qaida group has killed 37 senior army and security officials during the past three years, state media reported. (Read on …)

Also we learn that the recently surrendered al Zaidi is the cousin of the governor. Yemen has long had a habit of asking al Qaeda figures to go to prison for a while for the good of the country, i.e.- to take the US pressure off. Propaganda is a main stay of Yemen’s foreign policy. Click here for an earlier report on al Dhayani’s history and an interview where he accused the political security of concocting some terror attacks themselves for political purposes. He says he couldn’t be the driving instructor on the 2007 Marib attack because he doesn’t drive. Its hard to say who is the more credible source here…

AP

SAN’A, Yemen — Yemen said Monday that an al-Qaida operative turned himself in to authorities in the country’s northeastern province, the second such surrender in two days.

The development came as Yemen intensified its campaign to drive al-Qaida militants from their strongholds across this impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

According to a statement by Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee, the suspect gave himself up late Sunday in the province of Marib, surrendering to the local governor there.

The suspect was identified as Hamza Ali Saleh al-Dayan, who is believed to have trained suicide bombers and helped plan the July 2007 suicide attack that killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in the same province.

Al-Dayan was among 23 al-Qaida members who escaped from a Yemeni jail in Feb. 2006, through a tunnel dug under the prison. He was later accused of taking part in the 2008 mortar attack against the U.S. Embassy in San’a that killed a policeman and a young girl at an adjacent school. He and three accomplices fled in a car after that attack.

On Saturday, another suspected al-Qaida operative, Ghalib al-Zayedi, surrendered after lengthy mediation efforts to Marib’s Governor Naji bin Ali al-Zayedi, who is also his cousin.

Ghalib al-Zayedi was arrested in 2003 and spent the next three years in detention after being accused of hiding a man believed to be al-Qaida’s number two in Yemen.

WSJ: Federal authorities arrested and filed terror-related charges against an American man who they say received advice from radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and attempted to provide money and materials to an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

Barry Walter Bujol, 29 years old, was arrested Sunday in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting after he used fake documents supplied by an undercover informant to board a ship in Houston he thought was bound for the Middle East, the Justice Department said Thursday…. (Read on …)

Earth Times

Istanbul – A top official of terror network Al Qaeda called Thursday on followers to kidnap Christians and members of the Saudi royal family to help gain the release of jailed group members.

The audio message from former Guantanamo prisoner Said Ali al- Shihri, Al Qaeda’s number-two man in the Arabian Peninsula, was carried on various Islamic websites.

In it, he called on Muslims to help to take “Christians and princes of the Al-Saud family, as well as ministers and officers” as hostages. These would then be used to gain the freedom of jailed members, including women who were subjected to torture, he said. (Read on …)

Nice. But they got a good chunk of funds already via this pipeline.

AlawasatAsharq Al-Awsat – Al Qaeda revealed on Thursday the identity of one of the most dangerous women in the organization who was detained by Saudi security forces last February. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haylah al Qassir was arrested as part of a group of 113 terrorists for having links to Al Qaeda in Yemen. The arrests were announced last March.

An audiotape attributed to Al Qaeda was released on Thursday in which Saeed al Shehri, a deputy leader within Al Qaeda, called for kidnapping Saudi government officials in revenge for Haylah al Qassir’s arrest that was carried out by the Saudi authorities in Riyadh. Al Qassir is described as one of Al Qaeda’s most dangerous women. (Read on …)

And the next one who surrenders may have a 2 pound remote controlled bomb in his butt.

Pal Telegraph: Sana’a, Yemen, June 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph, by Anwar Al-Shoaybi) – A prominent leader of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda arm has reportedly handed himself over to authorities, security sources reported Saturday morning.

Ghaleb Al-Zaidi, one of the most wanted Al-Qaeda leaders in the eastern Yemeni province of Mareb, has given himself up to the governor of Mareb, after receiving assurances that he will not be killed or harmed.

Al-Zaidi decided to surrender after lengthy negotiations with the local authorities in Mareb, according to the sources. Al-Zaidi was put on trial in December, 2003 for allegedly harboring another Al-Qaeda suspect, called Mohammed Al-Ahdal, during a manhunt by Yemeni security forces.

Both men had spent three years in a maximum security prison in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital.

In March 2006, Yemen’s state security court ordered Al-Zaidi released on bail.

More

EOL:

SANAA- A senior Yemeni army, Colonel Mohammed Saleh al-Chaïef, and two other soldiers were killed Saturday in an attack by Al Qaeda against their convoy in the province of Marib (east), according to Tribal sources.

* “Colonel Mohammed Saleh al-Chaïef and two of his companions were killed when their car was the target of an attack with machine guns on the part of al-Qaida militants traveling in a vehicle” said that source, who requested anonymity.
* The attack took place in Matebe Adhbane, south of Marib city. It targeted a convoy of vehicles, including that of Colonel Chaïef, visiting the region Safer oilfields to inspect military forces responsible for security of oil facilities, added the same sources.
* The Yemeni security forces have recently intensified their campaign against the extremist militants, particularly since the failed assassination attempt against the 2009 Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, claimed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

The defendants, identified as Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, were arrested at JFK International Airport. They conspired within the US to commit murder outside the US, which is illegal, unlike in Yemen where it is encouraged. They were arrested boarding a plane to Egypt, with the ultimate destination Somalia where they were looking to hook-up with al Shabab. Yemen reiterated today that if captured, Awlaki will not be extradited but instead tried in Yemeni courts for his offenses within Yemen.

PDF

“8. On December 20, 2009, in New Jersey, the DEFENDANTS listened to a recording of Anwar al Awlaki promoting violent jihad and martyrdom”.

“22. On May 25, 2010 in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, ALMONTE played for ALESSA a video-recorded interview of Awlaki, during which Awlaki justified the killing of civilians in the course of waging violent jihad.”

Several other foreigners were arrested in Yemen including Americans, Brits, French, Asians and Africans, at the behest of foreign intelligence agencies. Yemeni security said the group was linked to the Nigerian’s airliner terror plot and Anwar Awlaki who repeatedly announces how proud he is to have been Abdulmattalab’s “teacher.”

An Australian woman, Shyloh Giddins, was arrested in Yemen May 15. Her two children are under house arrest alone, with a neighbor tending to them twice a day. Giddens was associated with some Bengali citizens who were later deported from Yemen. ”

Yemen holds Americans, others in al-Qaida probe
By AHMED AL-HAJ (AP)

SAN’A, Yemen — Yemeni authorities have detained several foreigners, including Americans, Britons and an Australian woman, in connection with an investigation into al-Qaida’s increased activity in the country, security officials said Wednesday.

The arrests were made after foreign intelligence agencies provided lists of names of people they wanted detained or put under surveillance, the two security officials said. (Read on …)

The woman is being held without charges on suspicion of ties to an “Islamist group.” Her children aged 5 and 7 are under house arrest, under the supervision of police officers, and a 17 year old Bangladeshi girl is with them in the house. A neighbor is allowed in twice a day to tend to them. HOOD’s letter to the Australian Foreign Affairs Office follows.

TVNZ: An Australian woman who converted to Islam and moved to Yemen in 2006 has been detained in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on suspicion of links to unnamed radical Islamist groups, her lawyer said today. (Read on …)

Al Qaeda in Yemen is going through a rough patch lately. In their last magazine, they were imploring Saudi women to come to Yemen and explode themselves. They used Awlaki to try to appeal to Arabic speakers for support. After the deaths of three operatives, they just named a Saudi as top commander. Now they’re begging for cash again. The last was a cell phone vid circulating in Saudi Arabia. So they have Saudi commanders, want Saudi recruits and are seeking cash from Saudi Arabia.

AL-QAEDA has launched a worldwide appeal for cash to finance training camps for strikes against Britain and the US.

Osama Bin Laden’s chiefs in Yemen are posting messages on extremist websites urging fanatics to disguise donations as charity gifts.

British forces and firms in the Middle East are identified as priority targets for suicide and other attacks. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAQ has revealed that the wanted terrorist suspect 53 on the list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects made public by the Saudi authorities in early last year Othman Al-Ghamdi has become a leader in the organization.

The new leader, who was released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo bay, Cuba, four years ago, appeared in a videotape speaking about U.S. strikes in conflict and disturbed regions.

Al Umairah Al-Ghamdi entered Yemeni territory illegally to join Al-Qaeda wings like other Saudis who were released from Guantanamo bay when Al-Qaeda wanted to regroup.

In early last year, AQAP was announced in Yemen after local and Saudi wings merged. Since then, the organization has claimed responsibility for most terrorist attacks in the world; the last the suicide attack against the UK’s envoy to Yemen Tim Torlot.

The videotape also disclosed that three Qaeda leaders were killed in raids Yemeni counterterrorism forces carried out in late last year and early this year including Abdul Al-Mehdhar, in Shabwa, and Muhammad Al-Awlaki and Muhammad Saleh Al-Kazemi, in Abyan.

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH/TAIF – A fugitive Saudi Arabian man, who is on the Kingdom’s most wanted list, was named as a senior member of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen wing, according to a tape by the group shown on Al-Arabiya television Friday.

The tape also confirmed the deaths of three leaders killed in December and January during Yemeni air raids.
Among those killed were Abdullah Al-Muhdar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Shabwa province, Mohammed Amir Al-Awlaki, and Mohammed Saleh Al-Kazimi.

Othman Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, the 31-year-old man named as a leading Al-Qaeda operative Friday, had spent four years in Guantanamo after he was captured in Afghanistan. He was released in 2006.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of the wanted terrorists named on the Ministry of Interior’s 2009 list of 85 has said that Othman Al-Ghamdi “kidnapped” her son. (Read on …)

Update: BBC: The militant, named as Mohammed Said bin Jardan, was injured but escaped. Three of Mr Shabwani’s bodyguards were also killed in the bombing, security sources told reporters. The Yemen army had meant to bomb the farm but hit the deputy governor’s car instead, Reuters reported. Who the heck is going to surrender now, when the last guy got ambushed? They meant to bomb the farm but hit the official’s car instead? That’s the story?

Another version from the YP:

Deputy Marib Governor, Secretary General of the Local Council, Jabir Al-Shabwani has been killed in an airstrike while he was leading a mediation to convince Al-Qaeda members to hand themselves in to the authorities. Three others including his uncle and two escorts were killed and two others were injured.

The airstrike targeted two cars in Al-Hadba’a district, one of which was carrying Al-Shabwani and his relatives, according to independent sources.Fury prevailed in the province in northeast Yemen after the news of Al-Shabwani’s death, with sources expecting clashes may erupt between his tribe and the army.

The state is calling it (another) misdirected airstrike.

(Read on …)

Another communication supposedly from the Houthi rebels exposes an al Qaeda in Yemen training manual sent to terrorists in Gaza about how to build a small plane for a terror attack. This story line is among the most bizarre coming out of Yemen, and that’s saying a lot, but there are specifics and it does highlight a new tactic that may be deployed. Several of the AQIY Sada al Malahim magazine issues spoke about defending Gaza. But while Wahishi and al Reimi and al Qaeda in Yemen do pose a threat, there are several other al Qaeda groupings and individuals operating in Yemen, associated with external cells, that are not media hounds like AQIY and operate under the radar. Its also true that the Houthi rebels ideology is diametrically opposed to al Qaeda, and Jewish people lived in Sa’ada alongside the Zaidis for centuries without incident. Wahabbi extremists were responsible for the recent targeting of Yemen’s Jews and the murder of the Rabbi.

Haaretz: Yemen Al-Qaida training Gaza groups to attack Israel

Documents sent to Haaretz by Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between Al-Qaida and Gaza Strip supporters.

The Yemen-based arm of Al-Qaida recently sent members of the organization in the Gaza Strip a training manual with instructions for building a light aircraft and using it against Israeli targets near the border with the Strip. The plane is powered by a car engine and can be used to launch explosives into Israel.

Documents sent to Haaretz by a group of Shi’ite separatists in Yemen that opposes Al-Qaida points to regular, direct contact between the Al-Qaida organization in that country and supporters in the Gaza Strip. Some of the latter are active in Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, which has carried out terror attacks against resorts in Sinai.

The Shi’ite rebels who passed the latest communication, and several previous ones, to Haaretz, are demanding Yemeni government recognition of their civil rights. They are keen to distinguish themselves from Al-Qaida. (Read on …)

Al Ansi, Saleh’s assistant since 1989, promises the hunting will continue.

Manhunt for al-Awlaki will continue in Yemen
[23/May/2010] Saba
SANA’A, May 23 (Saba) – Yemen will continue the manhunt for Anwar al-Awlaki, a most wanted terrorist, until he is arrested or he surrenders, head of the National Security System has said.

We can’t arrest someone based on just accusations but after the authorities found out the man was involved in terrorism, the search for him was expanded, Ahmed al-Anesi, who is also director of the Presidency Office, said. (Read on …)

Spiegel has some disturbing details.

When Manuela-Anett T. met her cousins Lydia, 6, and Anna, 4, in a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, it was as if the girls they knew had been swapped for others. The girls shyly said that their names were now Fatima and Sarah. And when questioned in German, they answered in Arabic.
(Read on …)

CNN reports a Saudi-Yemeni operation secured the release of two kidnapped German toddlers in Yemen. German authorities report the two little girls are in the hospital and will be flying home tomorrow, but their brother is probably dead. The children were rescued from somewhere in the war torn Sada’a province, the same area they were kidnapped from. The Germans and Saudis are still working to secure the release of their parents. A British engineer is also still being held. (Read on …)

This is a ridiculous statement. Are they saying if the US does not target Awlaki, then AQAP won’t launch attacks? The statement at a minimum is the second indication that Awlaki is a member of AQAP’s elite. Awlaki’s recent appearance on an AQAP video was the first open acknowledgment of the relationship. Some had contended that Awlaki had no relationship with the group at all, beyond incitement-providing ideological legitimacy for random murder sprees. Naser al Wahishi had been silent following the air strikes in December and January, leading to speculation that he was killed. The prior threats issued from Awlaki’s tribe were shown to be false when the Awlaki Sheik denied that a meeting had occurred or a statement issued.

(Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s regional wing in Yemen has threatened the United States with more attacks should any harm come to a U.S.-born radical cleric wanted dead or alive by Washington, according to an audio tape posted online on Sunday. (Read on …)

Qatani was designated as a member of a terror group this week by the US. State Dept. and the UN along with Qasim al Reimi.

Guardian A senior leader of the al-Qaida cell which attempted to assassinate the British ambassador to Sanaa and blow up a US passenger jet last Christmas has been killed in Saudi Arabia, according to a Yemeni source close to the group.

Nayif Mohammed Saeed al-Qahtani, described as the link man between the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed in a shoot-out last month with Saudi security forces, according to a Yemeni journalist, AbdulElah Shaea. (Read on …)

Their statement pretty much echos what al Zindani said earlier in the year about the Brits.

AFP: WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the April 26 attack on Britain’s envoy to Yemen Timothy Torlot in a statement posted Tuesday on jihadist forums, the US monitoring group SITE said. (Read on …)

Yemen says that they will try Anwar Awlaki in Yemen, however jihad abroad is not illegal in Yemen. The law allows for sentences up to ten years for “forming an armed gang” with the intent to launch attacks within Yemen. The law has been used to prosecute kidnappers and Houthi rebels. USS Cole bomber Fahd al Quso is among the few al Qaeda operatives sentenced to ten years; he was released after three and is currently on the US’s most wanted terrorists list. Awlaki is thought to still be in Shabwa province, along with al Quso.

Yemen Post: Yemen will not extradite Anwar Al-Awlaki to the U.S. because the man is now wanted by the national government due to his recent terrorist activity, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi has said.

The man the U.S. wants to be extradited must stand trial in Yemen under the national law because he is now wanted by the Yemeni government due to his recent terrorist activity, the minister said in an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Dar Newspaper.

Yemen’s position over handing the man to the U.S. is clear and firm because we refuse to hand our people to other countries, he affirmed.

Sure took them long enough

SANAA, May 6 (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have begun questioning a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who is accused of killing a guard as he tried to escape a hospital, a state-run website said on Thursday.

Sharif Mobley, arrested in March along with 10 al Qaeda suspects, was handed over to a court in the capital Sanaa. He also faces charges of wounding another guard as he tried to shoot his way out of the hospital where he was being treated, the Yemeni Defence Ministry website said. (Read on …)

Update: The WSJ clarifies:

U.S. officials said that Mr. Shahzad didn’t appear to have communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S.-born cleric who exchanged dozens of emails with suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan in the run-up to the November assault that left 13 soldiers dead.

But the officials said Mr. Shahzad told his interrogators that he read Mr. Awlaki’s English-language writings calling for holy war against Western targets and was moved to action, at least in part, by the cleric’s exhortations.

(Read on …)

The figure includes persons who became al Qaeda after their deaths, innocent civilians, tribesmen, southerners and children.

UPI: SANAA, Yemen, May 3 (UPI) — Pre-emptive military strikes in Yemen have killed more than 35 al-Qaida operatives and resulted in the arrest of dozens more in recent months, authorities said. (Read on …)

The material support was computer systems modernization and technical advice. The indictment is here. The time frame is November 2007 through March 2010. Hasanoff received $50K in Nov. 2007. Hanafy traveled to Yemen in Feb of 2008. In March 2008 through May 2008, Hanafy ran a software program that enabled secure internet communication with al Qaeda.

CBS Two United States citizens residing in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been charged with trying to aid Al Qaeda terrorists. According to the indictment obtained by CBS News, the men, Wesam El-Hanafi, 33, and Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, are charged with one count of “conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.”

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Also according to the indictment, “the defendants would and did agree to provide al Qaeda with, among other things, computer advice and assistance, services, and currency, knowing that al Qaeda had engaged and was engaging in terrorist activity[.]”
(Read on …)

Rashid Al Masiri says all the financiers, planners and equipment suppliers of the terror plot have been arrested, a major achievement for the security forces.

News Yemen: Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad al-Masri has said that the security authorities have captured masterminds behind terrorist attack on UK diplomat last Monday.

In his speech at the annual meeting of senior security commanders, al-Masri said: “The key planners who planned and funded the terrorist attack on the UK ambassador to Yemen have been captured.”

He did not name the arrested terrorists but said that the capture of terrorists in a short period of time was a great achievement by Yemeni security. Al-Masri said his ministry gives the development of security services more attention.

(Read on …)

The father called the PSO in Taiz to report him missing. Yemen Observer

Ali Noman al-Selwi, the father of the suicide bomber who targeted the convoy of the British ambassador to Yemen, told Yemen Observer that his son went to a religious institute with some al-Qaeda suspects.

“ My son, Othman, completed studying Quran at Ibn al-Ameer institute in the secondary years and then was imprisoned along with a few groups of his colleagues studing Quran, too,” said al-Selwi. (Read on …)

Negotiations afoot one would think. Sami Dyan’s group made a deal with the Defense Minister during the battle of Ja’ar.

Yemen Times: SANAA, April 24 (Xinhua) — A Yemeni military soldier was killed in the restive southern province of Lahj, where separatist sentiments are deeply rife, local news website almotamar.net reported….Meanwhile, the report said that security forces arrested a most wanted man in al-Habilain city of Lahj province, one of the leaders of a brutal criminal group in the province.

“The man, identified as Bassam Abdullah al-Said, was captured while he was hiding in a hotel in al-Habilain,” said a security official.

“The group includes al-Qaida’s member Samiee Daiyan and other killers,” said the official, adding that “al-Said and his group were accused of killing several citizens and government troops, as well as committing acts of terrorism.”

Its such a bad training video, really pathetic. Do they think the music will make everyone not notice what a bunch of bumbling idiots they look like, so they released it again???

ABC news: The new al Qaeda video of accused bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab at a desert training camp included footage that had been released previously, in January, 2009, according to a frame by frame analysis by terrorism expert Evan Kohlman of Flashpoint Global Partners. (Read on …)

Update: News Yemen reports that British investigators arrived in Sana’a, and the father of the bomber says its his other son that is studying in the UK, and that he notified security when his son when missing.

Original post: Wow that’s huge, not because its true- and it is likely true that it was a political act- but because Saddiq is saying it.

al Tagheer: “Sheikh Al Ahmar warned from deteriorating conditions during his meeting with heads of tribes. Security situation is worse,saying what happened to Dr. Abd Al wahab Mahmood and the British ambassador in Sanaa is a good example of that’s. Al Ahmar regrets what happened since there is security department and political security and have soldiers represent 10% of nation.

Al Ahmar wondered by asking: How Yemeni government and security could discover the ID of the bomber in two hours inspire the Yemeni gov has no lab to reach the DNA? Adding sarcastically : “ only if the bomber had been sent by politic security.

Politics motivation is behind the two incidents (the attempted murder of the British Ambassador and the shooting at the head of the JMP).

(Read on …)

Roads to Iraq picks up a report from Barakish:

Last infor­ma­tion revealed that sui­cide bomber (you can see his decap­i­tate head here), is stepped out a black car with tinted car-windows five min­utes before he com­mit­ted the sui­cide attempt (I don’t think Al-Qaeda mem­bers are dri­ving in the cities with tinted car-windows, P.S. in Yemen and most Arab coun­tries, you need a per­mis­sion to drive such cars).

There are some inter­est­ing analy­sis says that this is an attempt planned by the Yemeni gov­ern­ment to force the coun­tries who promised to donate for the devel­op­ment of Yemen (and broke their promises).

One deduction we can make about the plot against the UK ambassador is that it was hatched by the same planner who previously attacked South Korean investigators in March 2009, also by bouncing an explosives laden youth off of a moving car. In that attack as well, no one was killed but the two suicide bombers.

The other relevant fact of the earlier attack is that al Qaeda admitted their operatives received inside information from the security forces. Even the Yemeni Parliament said the attack was proof the security forces were compromised. If we assume the same planner, we can then reasonably assume the same connections into the Yemeni intelligence and security forces still exist. The yet unconfirmed report that the youth arrived in a black car five minutes before the ambassador passed may indicate that the attacker knew the route and was laying in wait, as in the earlier instance. In the current case, the question remains, did Saleh call in a favor or did al Qaeda?

(Update: its his brother at university in the UK.)The 26Sep.net, a Web site linked to Yemen’s military and security service, identified the suicide bomber in Monday’s attack on a convoy carrying the British Ambassador as Othman Ali al-Selwi, a 22-year-old student from the southern city of Taiz.

(Head of Central Security and presidential nephew) Yahya Saleh’s newspaper, Naba News reports the suicide bomber studied in Britain for nearly two years on a scholarship awarded by the British embassy and returned to Yemen a few months ago. He had no overt extremist leanings his family said. Naba’s sources theorize that he was radicalized in the UK or else the bombing was a reaction to a personal issue with the Embassy related to his studies.

Other sources say the 22-year old al Selwi was imprisoned in Sana’a and he paid regular visits to the National Security’s headquarters in Sana’a upon his release. News Yemen reports that al Selwi attended a technical institute in Marib after he graduated high school and was jailed for two years in a PSO jail on charges of belonging to al Qaeda.

This, though, is a ridiculous suggestion: WaPo: A statement by the Yemeni Embassy in Washington suggested that the attack may have been in retaliation for a Yemeni operation that killed two suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the western city of Hodeida on April 18.

If we recall, the two “al Qaeda operatives” killed were carrying IDs from the National Security and one was an agent of the Central Security.

An earlier attack on an official convoy targeted South Korean investigators in March 2009. They were in Yemen following the murder of three South Korean tourists. The route of the motorcade was disseminated to the so called al Qaeda by subverted elements within Yemen’s security forces, Parliamentarians charged.

Update: Yemen rounds up usual suspects, father confirms the bomber was recently released from jail:

Reuters, WaPo; Yemeni police arrested dozens of al Qaeda suspects in sweeps a day after a suicide bomber tried to kill Britain’s ambassador to Yemen, security officials said Tuesday.

At the 22-year-old bomber’s home near Sanaa, his father told Reuters that he condemned his son’s actions and that he had tried to get him to marry and find a job, before the young man went missing around six weeks ago.

Othman Ali al-Sulwi, who wore an explosive belt when he threw himself at a convoy taking Ambassador Tim Torlot to work Monday, had spent two years in prison before being released at the start of this year, his father said.

Naba sent the “He studied in the UK” story out as an email alert. Maybe mistaken identity. Update: yes, its his brother.

Update: The Interior Ministry denies the Reuters report of seven arrests in connection to the attack.

What a pathetic bunch of losers if there ever was one…

ABC: New videos produced by al Qaeda in Yemen show the accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and others in his training class firing weapons at a desert camp whose targets included the Jewish star, the British Union Jack and the letters “UN.” (Read on …)

Will this cause consternation among Awlaki’s English language devotees? Stay tuned for next week’s episode of Anwar and the Pussycats. The vid at least puts an end to the speculation as to whether Anwar is an official and operational member of AQIY, although that was pretty clear in 2007.

Meanwhile its interesting that Awlaki is trying to blame violence against Muslims on some super secret western plot, when the al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and Yemen take credit for it themselves, and his boy toy al Wahishi gave a whole dissertation on why it is legitimate for them to murder Muslims who happen to be standing near a Western visitor in Yemen. Update at Jarret Brachman: Forum Members Debate Awlaki Contradictions

The Indian: Anwar al-Awlaqi claimed to have trained UK-educated Nigerian Islamist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who attempted to blow up a jet bound for Detroit Dec 25, 2009. He also said he was “proud” to have trained radical Islamist Nidal Hassan, a US-born doctor of Palestinian descent who shot dead 13 people and wounded 30 others at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in November last year.

“I am proud to have been their teacher,” al-Awlaqi, who has dual Yemeni-US citizenship and was an imam of mosques in San Diego and Virginia, said in a video aired by Al-Jazeera channel.

(CNN) An– An American-born Muslim cleric has appeared in a video released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time.

Anwar al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda recruiter and supporter based in Yemen, is on the United States’ list of al Qaeda leaders targeted for capture or assassination. He has appeared in other videos but has never before been featured in an official video by AQAP. (Read on …)

This is such a bizarre story, not readily believable. The Houthi rebels intercepted communications from al Qaeda in Yemen to an anti-Hamas Salafi group in Gaza and they sent it to Haaretz. Al Qaeda in Yemen is planning to send Somalis from Yemen to Gaza for attacks and also to attack Jews in Yemen and launch a rocket from Saudi Arabia on a nuclear reactor in Israel. The Houthis, in sending the letters, are trying to demonstrate the difference between their ideology and al Qaeda’s in a bid to elicit US support for their cause, which they say is an end to discrimination by the Yemeni government.

Haaretz

The Yemen-based arm of Al-Qaida is examining the possibility of infiltrating terrorists into Israel disguised as Somali refugees crossing the border from Egypt or even as new immigrants from Ethiopia.

Shi’ite rebels yesterday sent another letter to Haaretz, the latest of several, in which they quote from a letter sent by Al-Qaida to members of a Salafist group in the Gaza Strip that is opposed to Hamas. (Read on …)

No injuries except to the bomber. Some reports said it was a suicide bomber but the Brits say small bomb. The state news agency SABA says the device was a suicide vest and the bombers head was found three houses away. News Yemen identifies the attacker as 22 year old Othman Ali al-Selwi, who was trained in Mareb province. The attack on a convoy is not the first. In March 2009, al Qaeda attacked the motorcade of South Korean officials who were in Sana’a to investigate a lethal suicide attack on South Koran tourists days earlier.

(CNN) — The British ambassador to Yemen survived an attack on his convoy in the capital, Sanaa, Monday morning, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.

“There was [a] small explosion beside the British Ambassador’s car. He was unhurt. No other Embassy staff or British Nationals were injured,” a statement said. Initial reports said two Yemenis — a man and a woman — were injured in the attack and taken to a nearby hospital. The convoy carrying Tim Torlot, 52, was near Berlin park and a short distance from the British embassy at the time of the blast.

Nearly related: The Debka spin is Saleh used US counter-terror funds to bribe al Qaeda to leave for Somalia: Failing to eradicate the al Qaeda presence by force, Salah summoned the tribal chiefs harboring al Qaeda centers and through them offered to pay the Islamists to leave the country. The bribe of an estimated $15-20 million was accepted and on April 7, 12 al Qaeda leaders, presenting themselves to the Somali Al-Shebab Islamist rebels as emissaries of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), turned up in Somalia to scout suitable areas under rebel control for new bases, their pockets well lined with US dollars to pay for their lease.

All of a sudden Nabi is al Qaeda again. Last year, he was leading a group of jihaddists for the state during the battle in Ja’ar. In the years before, state officials insisted he was a peaceful farmer and then that they captured him after a five year chase. In 2004, they reported al Nabi dead to the US. In 2005 (after Saleh visited Bush) Nabi was jailed and in an interview said that they were only jailed when the regime needed to use them as mercenaries against opposition of some sort or another.

AFP SANAA — Yemeni authorities arrested three alleged Al-Qaeda members accused of killing two policemen and blowing up an official’s vehicle in the southern province of Abyan, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

The three men, identified as Mujib Hafsah, Mohammed al-Bakawi and Mohammed Ismail, were arrested in the southern province of Aden on Sunday, the ministry’s news website 26sep.net said, citing a security source.

They are accused of blowing up the car of a local government official on April 19, while Bakawi and Ismail are also suspected of killing two policemen, the website said.

“During interrogations, the suspects admitted that they were appointed by Khaled Abdulnabi, a member of Al-Qaeda in Abyan province,” it said.

Abdulnabi was a leading member of the Aden-Abyan Islamic army, an armed group which was active in the south before it went into oblivion a few years ago.

Random guys, wanted al Qaeda, and/or security forces

News YemenTwo wanted, allegedly al-Qaeda suspects, were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the province of Hodeidah, west of Yemen early Sunday.

The three men refused to stop at a checkpoint in Hodeidah and started gunshot with security forces, who killed two and arrested the third one, official sources told News Yemen, but declined to identify the three men as al-Qaeda suspects. Reuters quoted a security as claming that the three men are suspected al-Qaeda members.

AlSahwa Net quoted security sources as saying that one of the three suspects, identified as Qais al-Jabobi, was carrying an ID of the National Security and the two others were carrying IDs of the Central Security.

Update: Or maybe they were random al Qaeda with ID from the National Security:

Yemen Post: Two wanted people were killed and an officer was injured on Sunday in an exchange of gunfire between three fugitives and police in western Yemen.

Security sources said that the fugitives whom the Interior Ministry alerted the security authorities about their car as wanted a week ago clashed with police at Alshamalia checkpoint in Hodeida province.

Before the incident, the three convinced other checkpoints they were national security officials using forged IDs, according to the Alsahwa website. But when the checkpoint was alerted about them, they could not pass and then started firing at police, forcing police to return fire.

As a result, two of them were killed identified as Qais Al-Jabobi, holding a national security ID, and Majed Saleh, a central security soldier. The third was arrested and is now being investigated to know the motives of the shooting.

That’s Yemen for you.

Yemen Post Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP rejected on Wednesday reports including statements by a Somali minister that it had relocated to Somalia, the News Yemen reported.

On the other hand, an official source said that security authorities had freed an Al-Qaeda-linked detainee, Arif Mujali who escaped from the Central Prison in Sana’a in 2006. Mujali was charged with attacking the French oil tanker off Mukalla port in 2002. Mujala was recently arrested among a group that planned to attack foreign missions in the country including the British embassy.

Once the Yemeni government starts releasing al Qaeda, we have to look to see what’s happening on the other side of the deal. Its usually a quid pro quo or a powerful military commander.

Anwar Awlaki’s brother Omar verbally attacked and threatened a Salafi researcher on al Qaeda as he was leaving a mosque in Sana’a yesterday. Saeed Obaid Jamahi said in an interview with al Tagheer (The Change), an independent news site, that Omar Awlaki confronted him and threatened to kill him in front of dozens of worshipers. Jamahi told al Tagheer the attack surprised him because he sympathizes with Awlaki’s cause and believes Awlaki should not be hunted or killed without clear evidence of wrong doing. Jamahi urged the Ministry of the Interior and Attorney General to do their duty and take the threats seriously.

Update from a witness: Saeed Ubeid was interviewed at his home by a western TV channel which was conducting a series of interviews for a program on Anwar al Awlaqi. As Anwar’s home was in the same neighborhood, the channel called Nassir al Alwalqi (Anwar’s father and a leading member of the ruling party) for an interview for the same program. But he instead refused to do, and asked the channel to stop “campaigning against his son” and insulted the channel aggressively. Afterward, Mr. Ubeid left his home for prayer in the neighborhood mosque, where he met with Anwar’s brother who insulted him, tried to physically attack him and threatened him with death. Update 2: Gulf News

Sana’a, April 14, 2010 ( Pal Telegraph, by Anwar AL-Shoaybi)- Yemeni police forces broke up a local gang involved in forging e-identity cards for fugitives and HIV-patients, security sources reported Monday. (Read on …)

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu Baker al Qirby urged Anwar Awlaki to turn himself to be tried under Yemeni law, vowing that no Yemeni citizen would be extradited to the US or any other country.

The US announced last week that it had authorized Awlaki’s kill or capture, having determined he is an active al Qaeda operative. Awlaki was previously known for brainwashing vulnerable persons on the internet. Awlaki holds duel Yemeni-American citizenship.

“Yemen is going to prosecute those within its territory, and they will be punished according to the law if found guilty of any crimes punishable by the law,” al-Qirby said in an interview published by the quasi governmental Yemen Observer.

There is one small problem. Yemen’s law does not criminalize jihad abroad in defense of occupied Muslim lands. If Anwar Awlaki, or any other Yemeni jihaddist, is guilty of conspiring to commit murder in the US, there’s no law in Yemen that prohibits or punishes it. Yemeni courts have explicitly accepted jihad as a viable defense.

In one notable terror trial in July 2006, the defendants admitted to fighting in Iraq against coalition forces as well as training suicide bombers. “This does not violate [Yemeni] law,” the judge found. “Islamic Sharia law permits jihad against occupiers,” he said.

Jihad on American Soldiers and American Civilians

What is jihad? A lethal shooting spree at Fort Hood, according to Anwar Awlaki. Awlaki was in contact with Nidal Hassan prior to the attack and issued a statement after, entitled “Nidal Hassan is a hero.”

Personable and easy spoken, Awlaki is the calm western voice of al Qaeda’s bloody fanaticism that slipped under the door of many English speaking homes. His logic of random slaughter is chilling: “Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done?” Some of Yemen’s religious authorities also consider US troops as legitimate targets of terrorism.

Yemen’s Koranic dialog program, aimed at reforming al Qaeda terrorists, never discouraged fighting in Iraq. An expedited release program, the dialog program discouraged religious fanatics from defining the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh as an apostate. The program’s director, Judge Hamoud al Hittar said in 2005, “Iraq is not a subject of the dialogue.” Al Hittar has since become Minster of Endowments. Some state clerics in Yemen call for harm to the US in weekly prayers.

The Yemeni judicial system and religious authorities have found that US soldiers are legitimate targets. Does it matter if they are in Iraq or the US? Yemeni courts would likely agree with Anwar Awlaki that Fort Hood is a legitimate target of jihad.

Awlaki goes further and defines ordinary Americans as sanctioned victims of terrorism. Awlaki was joyous in praising Umar Farouk Abdulmutalla, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25. Exploding a jet plane in mid air is legitimate under Islamic law, he says, because “the American populace is living within a democratic regime and they hold the responsibility of its policies.” Awlaki defines all Americans civilians as worthy of a death sentence because they are “participant in all the crimes of their government.”

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh openly supports many external resistance groups. Hamas and Hezbollah both have official offices in Yemen. A variety of other regional death cults maintain informal offices.