Armies of Liberation

New estimates today are 300 more families are displaced from this latest round of fighting, about 3000 people, as always mostly women, children and the elderly. Its hard to say that the fighters arriving for the battle are all currently al Qaeda, but they may be by the time its over. The resumption of air strikes against mountainous hideouts may be effective, but they are counter-productive in residential areas.

WT: Security sources said the Yemen Air Force has renewed operations against Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). They said the Air Force has employed the MiG-29 fighter-jet and helicopters to attack Al Qaida strongholds in southern Yemen. “The Air Force has been assisted by Western trainers to identify and track terrorist targets,” a security source said. On Oct. 16-17, MiG-29 aircraft struck suspected AQAP strongholds in the mountains near Lawder, reportedly killing five operatives. The sources said more than 100 Al Qaida fighters were believed to have fled Lawder for the mountains of the Abyan province.

Army Retiree Killed, Civilians Injured as Planes Strike Al-Qaeda Positions in Abyan

Yemen Post Staff: An army retiree was killed and two women and a child were injured when planes struck a village in Modya district, Abyan, where the army is fighting and hunting murderous Al-Qaeda militants, the Alsahwa website reported on Sunday.

Five homes were destroyed, livestock were killed and many families fled Thauba village heading to nearby areas, it said.

In what seems a retaliatory attack against the escalating large-scale operations against its members, Al-Qaeda attacked today a military vehicle in the Thra Mountain in the district, but the fate of its crew was nuclear. The vehicle, carrying food supplies for the forces, was completely destroyed. (Read on …)

Just to clarify, there is no Aden Abyan Islamic Army at the moment, and certainly not 12,000 fighters. Its just a dream in al Reimi’s head. There’s several dozens of actual AQAP in Yemen. A total of 300 is still a pretty solid number, scattered around Shabwa, Abyan, Sana’a, Saada and Marib. The jihaddi paparazzi just ran off with that statement of his without reading the part where it said, “we are in the initial stages,” meaning they are dreaming of it.

CRI: At least 11 suspected al-Qaida fighters were killed and dozens including civilians were wounded on Sunday in Yemen’s air raids in the country’s southern troubled province of Abyan, provincial security official and local sources said.

“Initial statistics showed that 11 al-Qaida suspects were killed and perhaps more than 20 others including civilians were injured in Modiya district of Abyan in continuing aerial attacks by the Yemeni fighter jets since Saturday,” the official said.

He told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the air raids are continuing with intelligence coordination with the U.S. unmanned aircraft.

A source from a hospital in Zinjibar, the provincial capital city of Abyan, told Xinhua that “fierce battles are taking place now between the Yemeni army and al-Qaida fighters in Dahma Mountain close to the highway linking Zinjibar and Modiya town.”

The hospital found foreign nationals among the dead, added the source.

The air strikes against al-Qaida camps began on Saturday after gunmen affiliated to the group ambushed a military patrol en route to Modiya, killing one soldier and wounding two others, according to state media.

The aerial attacks came seven days after the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) declared the establishment of an army of 12,000 fighters in south Yemen to wage a “holy war” against the country’s security services and foreign interests.

Yemeni security seizes al-Qaeda significant documents, SANA’A, Oct. 16 (Saba) – The security services in Abyan province have seized significant documents regarding terrorist plots were prepared by al-Qaeda members to carry out them in the province. (Read on …)

Update: death toll of convoy ambush rises to five.

In 1993 through May of 1994, over 150 Yemeni Socialist Party officials were assassinated. The attacks were thought organized by Yemen’s Central Security forces, then headed by President Saleh’s brother, Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who is now deceased. The president’s son Ahmed now heads the CSF. The 1993 assassinations were the work of the Afghan Arabs who had returned to Yemen following the Soviet defeat. In return for the attacks, the Saleh regime had promised the al Qaeda leadership to install a more fundamentalist, neo-Salafi doctrine on the nation. The deal went from General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar to Usama bin Laden. This is well documented history. Likely not all of the assassins knew the terms of the deal or even that there was a deal. The rationale of the supposed apostasy of socialists was enough for their leaders to motivate the hit men. The string of murders then looks very similar to what is going on now in the south of Yemen, where dozens of security officers have been killed, primarily from the Political Security Organization.

The policy of diversion through crisis generation has worked well for Saleh for a long time. The failure of the state to achieve any noticeable progress against AQAP since December may be due to its fragmentation, incompetence and corruption. Often when the Yemeni government fails at implementing even the most basic policy, it is because competing intra-governmental interests are threatened. In Yemen, generally, different militant factions liaise and negotiate with different government intermediaries and presidential relatives. The 2009 battle of Ja’ar was largely a red on red confrontation where the state’s jihaddists including al Nabi fought other jihaddists to return control to the state’s designated proxy. The string of current assassinations targets largely the PSO. Some southerners suggest its a purge. Most people though interpret the bloodbath as hostilities between AQAP and the state, specifically al Qamish, head of the PSO. The last news article about direct state facilitation of AQAP (al-Wahishi) was last year when he was helped out by members of the National Security. (If I have time, I’ll try to find the link to the article. Its posted here somewhere.) The external landscape evolved significantly since then. Currently some element of the state is at war with some element of AQAP. Its the status of the other elements that is unclear.

CNN: Al Qaeda in Yemen is suspected of being behind three separate attacks that have targeted Yemeni security officials, according to a government official.

“In the past 72 hours, there have been three attacks in the south of the country,” the Yemeni official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Thursday. “The attacks are getting worse and the scene is getting bloodier.” (Read on …)

They denied planning attacks in Yemen but admitted to fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, not a problem there.

12 Qaeda suspects appear in Yemen court
(AFP) – ADEN — Twelve Al-Qaeda suspects appeared in a special court on Monday in the southeastern port of Mukalla charged with terrorism-linked offences, a Yemeni judiciary official said. (Read on …)

AFP: ADEN, Yemen — A Yemeni intelligence officer has been killed and two policemen and a detained suspect wounded in separate attacks in the south, military and security sources said on Saturday.

Abdul Aziz Abdullah Bashraheel was shot dead on Friday by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle in Foha, west of Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, a security official said. (Read on …)

I knew they were going to target General Nuba one way or another. See my 9/26 post, “Next Saleh will discover al Qaeda near General Nasser al Nuba’s camp”. I was close, but instead they blamed him for the assault on the governor of Shabwa’s convoy. Its a ridiculous charge. While General Nuba created and leads the association of retired military officers, he’s never organized them into a military unit. Among all the factions, and since 2007, the Retired Military Association has the most self-discipline and has always remained peaceful, in spite of tremendous provocations. The end result will likely be the same. The military is preparing a second wave of assaults in Shabwa, the vicinity of al Hota they say. Also see southern movement statement below. Who the Yemeni state blames for anything is a function of who they are talking to. For CNN, its al Qaeda.

(CNN) — Yemen has dispatched paramilitary forces to a southern province following an ambush on the local governor by suspected al Qaeda militants, a government official said Thursday.

The forces are preparing for a second offensive on Shabwa province “very soon,” said the Yemeni official who did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media. (Read on …)

Update: Regime blames General Nassir al Nuba, after he refused a wedding invitation… Otay. So the al Qaeda spree is over or never was and now its the southerners who are making the attacks? Tomorrow it will be al Qaeda again.

The Interior Ministry said that the Yemeni military campaign of twenty armed men surrounded the shipsets elements of al Qaeda in Icbm Shabwa province (south-east Yemen) against the background of the attack, which targeted the convoy of governor of the province on Wednesday ..

According to the information center security that among the items that targeted the convoy of the governor, Brigadier Nasser Al-Nuba and Ahmed Atef, and that they were among the who fired on a convoy of cars carrying the governor of the province Shabwah and Major General Mohammed Salem Cotton Deputy Reese of Staff for Manpower and a number of military figures and government in the province, which led to the martyrdom of one of the soldiers and wounding 8 others injured in different .. (Read on …)

We need to know which intel agency they were working for, and which division of the royal family, in order to understand the dynamics of this. Its really pathetic though that these fanatics are going around assualting people at will. The tactic follows that of the assault on the Belgian tourists in 2007, when they just opened fire on the car at a speed bump.

Update: ah, its the Political Security. It appears there is some kind of dispute going on between some section of AQAP and al Qamish, head of the political security. However, the good relations between AQAP and other factions within the Saleh government, for example the military and Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, continues unabated. At the same time, this state which has no qualms about the wholesale slaughter of its citizens presumably little hesitation in sacrificing a few low level agents for the greater good. AQAP takes the same position. Update 2: Bill notes the attack was near al Iman University.

al Babwa: Security sources said that 10 Yemeni intelligence agents were wounded Saturday when gunmen opened fire on their bus in the center of Sanaa. A Yemeni security source said that “Unidentified gunmen attacked at about 06:00 (3.00 GMT) a bus for the political security (intelligence in the center of Sanaa. This attack resulted in the wounding of ten elements of the security apparatus.

It was the first such attack inside the capital of Yemen since the attempted attack on the British ambassador in April.

Sana’a re-activates the role of jihadist Khalid Abdul Nabi and gives him 10 million rials to revive his activities on behalf of the state. So the US is now funding the Aden Abyan Islamic Army? Nifty. I’m going to work on getting a better translation: Aden Press

Informed source in the city of Zanzibar Abyan governorate for “Eden Press that” security leaders Northern governorate Mmmthel occupation authority in the governorate of Abyan Ahmed Almisri met with Sheikh Khaled Abdel Nabi, one of the Afghan Mujahideen in earlier, was paid 10 million Yemeni riyals to Abdul Prophet of additional support for the maintenance of the Centre Sana’a to control totals extremist in the Abyan province, is known that the Nabi of Almqrbeyen of Loa Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar Alchksbip radical fundamentalism in the power of Sana’a and half-brother of Yemeni President, on another level took place early in the morning flights of Air Occupation Yemen over the area of the delta show the impact of armed clashes in the area of Jaar – Fort Attia m / Abyan between armed groups, “tribal jihad” with the occupation forces

This is not the al Qaeda your mother warned you about. This is at best YSB reincarnated. Its certainly not the plotters and the upper echelon. In a statement dated August 30, AQAP takes credit for a variety of low grade attacks in the south. And its not clear what this is yet. While the step up by the Yemeni security forces itself could be several things at once: a temporary posturing in response to international pressure and US and Saudi intel, an intra-family power play using different jihaddist proxies, and or Saleh trying to cut the legs out from under the southern movement. But its important to recall that after the 2006 jailbreak, the Saleh regime stepped up pressure for a few weeks and assassinated Fawz al Raibi and the Egyptian Dawadier. And then bin Laden’s buddy, al Feida said that the killings of the Al Qaeda operatives would not harm the overall good relations between the Yemeni government and actual al Qaeda. And that’s all that’s going on now, they’re treading water. Saleh didn’t reform, Saleh never reforms in any area, ever.

1-Throwing a hand grenade at a group of Political Security officers in front of the Political Security building, which led to casualties among their ranks.

2-Attacking a ‘first responder’ patrol as it was roaming the al-Quds area in the heart of Zinjibar. It is a patrol known for harming Muslims. The attack resulted in killing three soldiers, capturing two Kalashnikovs and destroying a vehicle. (Read on …)

To wipe out the people with inside knowledge of all the dirty tricks, and that was the buzz on the attack on the prison and they are mysteriously re-zoning all of the Aden free zone. Its a giant conspiracy theory and if one quarter of it is true, then the US is in deep trouble. I like the part where the author analyzes the al Qaeda statements and really al Qaeda has been wheeling and dealing with the Saleh regime for two decades.

Saada Aden Revealed a legal expert and political analyst south of the facts confirm beyond any reasonable doubt and the parking system the occupation of Sana’a and behind all terrorist attacks in the areas of the South recently targeted a number of figures southern security headquarters and facilities of the State under the pretext of “Al Qaeda” emphasizes partnership this system in the industry of terrorism. (Read on …)

The northern government’s terrorist plot will expand after Eid, Baoum says. Aden Press:

أن هذه الجرائم التي ترتكبها قوات الاحتلال ضد المدنيين الجنوبيين تحت أسم القاعدة تكشف عن مخطط رهيب سيتوسع بعد عيد الفطر المبارك مع أثارة الفتن توصلا إلى تهجير سكان بعض المحافظات والمديريات الجنوبية تسهيلا للأستيلأ على الأراضي والثروة لذا فأن على أبناء الجنوب أن يكونوا متيقظين لمثل هذه الخطط والمؤامرات وأن يعملوا على إفشالها ولابد من العمل السريع والمسئول والحاسم لتوحيد الصف الجنوبي وصيانة أهدافه وضمان استمرارية وجود الحراك ككيان وطني مستقل وموحد يناضل من أجل الاستقلال والتحرر وإستعادة الهوية الأصيلة للشعب الجنوبي التي حاول الأعداء طمسها … That these crimes committed by occupation forces against southern civilians under the name of the rule uncover plot terrible expand after the Eid al-Fitr with sedition reached displacement of residents in some counties and districts south convenience Estela land and wealth, so long as the people of the South to be vigilant to such plans and plots and work to make it fail and must be quick and decisive and responsible for the Unification of the Southern Tier and maintenance of its objectives and ensure the continuity of the existence of mobility as an entity separate national and unified struggle for independence and liberation and recovery of identity inherent to the people of the South tried to obliterate the enemy …حسن أحمد باعوم Hassan Ahmed Ba’oum

رئيس المجلس الأعلى للحراك السلمي لتحرير الجنوب President of the Supreme Council of the mobility for the Liberation of South peaceful

Scan of the document at ANA

He revealed: “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” in a publication distributed by the city of Zanzibar Thursday in Abyan for a list of 52 security personnel belonging to what he described as “a black-Ansi” deemed “legitimate target” for murder.

وأرفق المنشور الذي وزع في مدينة زنجبار – وتحصلت «وكالة أنباء عدن» على نسخة منه – بقائمة اسمية لأفراد الأمن المستهدفين الذين ينتسبون لأجهزة الأمن السياسي والبحث الجنائي وجهاز الاستخبارات العكسرية ، والذي قال تنظيم القاعدة انهم باتوا “هدفا مشروعا لنا ابتداء من 1 شوال 1431 هجري” أي اليوم الجمعة الموافق أول ايام عيد الفطر. Attached to the publication that was distributed in the city of Zanzibar – and obtained «news agency Eden» a copy of it – a list of nominal members of the security target those who belong to the organs of political security and criminal investigation and intelligence-military, which al Qaeda said they have become “a legitimate target for us, starting from 1 Shawwal 1431 AH “Any day Friday, the first day of Eid al-Fitr. (Read on …)

After the “escaped” Lauder, they regrouped in Modia.

SANAA, Sep. 9, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) — At least three soldiers were killed and four others wounded Thursday in clashes between the security forces and al-Qaida fighters in the province of Abyan in southern Yemen, a provincial police official said.

Nearly 200 al-Qaida militants were involved in the clashes early Thursday in Modia district after they had been defeated in a week-long fight erupted late last month against the security forces and driven out of the neighboring Lodar city, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Read on …)

Al Qaeda using civilians as human shields would only make sense if the Yemeni government or al Qaeda had any respect for civilian immunity, which neither does. How did they “escape” Lauder? Supposedly the Saudi, Battarfi, ordered the attacks on Yemeni security forces in Abyan. All these Saudis should go home and fight their war on Saudi soil not in Yemen.

Saudi named new leader of Al-Qaeda in Arab Peninsula
Saudi Gazette
RIYADH – Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen and using it as a launching pad for targeting the Kingdom, has appointed a Saudi of Yemeni origin, Khaled Battarfi, as the leader of the organization in Abyan Governorate, a Yemeni government official disclosed to Okaz/Saudi Gazette.
The move follows the killing of the former leader Jameel Al-Anbari in an air strike on March 14 that targeted the organization’s members in Moudiah city, said Ahmad Ali Al-Qufaishi, director general of Lodar Province, which is located in southern Yemen. Speaking by telephone, he said Battarfi, 35, who is also known as Abu Miqdad Al-Kindi, is the “Shariah-in-charge” in the terrorist organization in Yemen. (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 …)

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.

al Tagheer

A security official said the regional wing of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint in southern Yemen on Saturday that killed eight soldiers.

وأنحت وسائل الاعلام الحكومية باللائمة في القتال في الجنوب والذي قتل فيه عشرات الاشخاص على مدى الاشهر الثلاثة الماضية على جناح تنظيم القاعدة في المنطقة ومتشددين انفصاليين مسلحين. Sculpture and state media blamed the fighting in the south, which killed dozens of people over the past three months on the wing of al Qaeda militants in the region and separatist militants. (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

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 …)