Armies of Liberation

Excellent lets hop ehe brought back a substantial amount of inside information on AQAP. Maybe all their questionable practices like dressing up like women,

Riyadh, 4 Aug. (AKI) – A Saudi fugitive accused of being a member Al-Qaeda and hiding in neighbouring Yemen recently turned himself in to police in Saudi Arabia, according to newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. (Read on …)

Ammar wants new toys? There was never a legitimate ransom demand from al Qaeda in Yemen in the past. Its interesting the regime knows the hostages are in good health. But then again, Saleh’s network has many conduits to “al Qaeda.” The French workers were kidnapped after France made a statement urging Saleh to leave the throne immediately.

News 24: Sanaa – Three French aid workers who were kidnapped in southeastern Yemen are held by al-Qaeda members who are seeking a $12m ransom for their release, tribal sources said on Wednesday.
(Read on …)

Odd the explosives expert would kill himself, normally these cowards send brainwashed teenagers to do the dirty work. We have al Shahrani showing up several times on the lists of the Saudi Most Wanted. Yemen is becoming the proxy location for the conflict between the Saudi royals and the Saudi fanatics. Related: Wahishi pledges AQAP loyalty to Zawaheri, a tad late no? Jealous or under pressure maybe. Wahishi notes both the government and the opposition support the drone campaign.

Yemen Post: The Yemeni authorities identified the bomber who rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy on Monday in Aden as Turki Saad Muhammad Qulais Al-Shahrani. (Read on …)

Wednesday a British worker was killed when his car exploded in a terror attack and today, Sunday, a car bomb rammed a military convoy, killing 8. There were many messages of outrage and condolences posted by Yemenis regarding the murder of the British national. Car bombings are a hallmark of the so called AQAP: the tactic was used in the attacks on two oil facilities in September 2006, on tourists in Marib were killed in July 2007, in the bombing at the Sayoun police station in July 2008. The September US embassy attack also included car bombs, as did the suicide attack on a Zaidi religious procession organized by the Houthis in November 2010 which killed 17. That’s off the top of my head. (Yemen released those murderers responsible for training the driver who carried out the 2007 car bombing which killed two Spanish tourists in Marib after two years in jail, if they even served that much time.)

On Wednesday, a car bomb killed David Tom, David Mockett who worked as a marine surveyer through his office in Al-Mualla St, detonated when he left his office. It was followed by an attack today on a military convoy.

Yemen Post An explosive-laden car was rammed into a military convoy on Sunday morning in Yemen’s business capital Aden killing at least six people including soldiers and the attacker, eyewitnesses were quoted as saying.

Almost twenty others were injured, the website said, quoting medical sources as saying that the death toll is likely to rise.

The suicide attack took place near an air force camp in Al-Mansoura district while it was heading to Abyan province, where the army has been fighting Islamists for almost two months, it quoted military sources as saying.

Wow, a Yemen Times interview with the new British ambassador (Wilks) demonstrates the inane talking points of the US/UK position:

1- he urges the opposition not to engage in violence, fails to note all the violence has been perpetrated or initiated by the state forces

2- he says if the Saleh family refuses to engage in dialog, the UK will urge them some more (how’s that working for you?)

3- he urges youth to hold elections for representatives, when the state has been unable since 2006. Parliamentary elections slated for 2009 had to be postponed for two years and there wasn’t even a revolution then. Gee, maybe something like a council might work in this situation.

4- he urges elections but wont recognize the leaders if elected unless it is according to the UK’s plan

5- the UK’s plan is to support inclusive dialog, the magic potion, with no plan B, and here it is six months later and there’s still no plan B.

6- he says Yemen prone to chaos but no chaos by the protesters occurred since protests began; its Saleh’s regime that is prone to chaos.

7- he says the politicians have all the power to resolve the crisis, and over looks the support of the people who are to be governed by them-ie, the UK is urging Yemenis to replace one illegitimate govt with another.

8- he is annoyed by blame on the international community ??!! for not sorting out the problems. Wow, just wow, I think just shut up and stop supporting and legitimizing the failed regime is all anybody wants.

9- He is waiting for a basic agreement? theres been one since Feb but Saleh and Obama rejected it, its been written and presented time and time again. The protesters want a transitional council. Oh, does he mean Saleh should agree to be overthrown? Its a strawman position. (The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position.)

10- “The political process in Yemen should not just be about seats in government, it should be about dealing with the fundamental economic crisis in the country.” Is it an economic crisis or a glut of corruption that bankrupted the country? Q) Why is there an economic crisis? A) No reform, no diversification, subsidies, poor education, no spending on basic services and elite capture of all resources. The structures of patronage and corruption must be shattered for any hope of an economic recovery. There can be no economic reform without political reform and there’s no hope of political reform without regime change: the last decade has demonstrated the immutability of that truth.

11- The ambassador’s experience of getting kidnapped/besieged by an angry mob of regime thugs was no problem, he smoked and ate and went home. That’s just a great attitude. When Iran captures your ship again, we’ll know its not a problem. I guess the two “al-Qaeda” attacks on Amb. Torlott were no biggie either, when we all know who sent those brainwashed teenagers to bounce off the motorcade, twice.

12- he says freezing assets requires reviewing the UN report on human rights to see its conclusions; so the UK doesn’t know right now whether Saleh’s regime has engaged in human rights violations against the protesters? Uh, there’s over 500 dead, there’s video, eyewitness accounts and reports by HRW.

I had to stop when I got to “no evidence” of UK trained CT forces violating human rights, its both comical and infuriating. Now I know why my British friends are also sputtering. Its a load of propaganda. The entire population of Yemen knows it; they should include the UK in their impending boycott and demand Wilk’s expulsion when they demand Feierstein’s. Full text of the interview below for posterity’s sake:

Published:11-07-2011

Armed with his M.Phil in International Relations from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and around 22 years of diplomatic experience since joining the British Diplomatic Service in 1989, Ambassador Jon Wilks presents as a capable person who can understand Yemen and all its complexities. He speaks fluent Arabic which he mastered in the early nineties in Cairo, a skill that has come very handy in Yemeni qat chewing sessions with officials, diplomats, activists and Yemeni leaders. (Read on …)

al Sahwa: Yemen’s defected army in collaboration with tribesmen could halt on Friday ba convey of militants heading the southern town of Zinjibar where government troops.

The defected army supported by General Ali Mohsin Al-Ahmar could defeat al-Qaeda in many areas in Abyan and cleansed several districts from militants who had grasped areas in Abyan after the Yemeni regime help them control the governorate, local sources affirmed.

Local sources said the defected army along with some tribes had secured the road from Shabwa province to Shaqra in Abyan, a main highway leading to Zinjibar which is still controlled by the militants.

Yemen defected generals had accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh of of letting his forces ease their grip around areas suspected of hosting militants, in order to convince foreign governments that only he stands in the way of a militant takeover.

al Masdar reports a senior commander of the 25th mechanized unit alleges a conspiracy by the Southern Military Command and the Ministry of Defense because a) the 25th was twice ordered to surrender to AQAP, hand over weapons and withdraw, b) they have been besieged for weeks without any support, food or resupply of equipment c) the Defense Ministry refused the US demand two weeks ago to supply weapons and food by helicopter (there’s 4 new Hueys, why not use those?) With the support of Yemeni tribesmen he says, they were able to break the siege and make progress.

The article doesn’t make note of the enhanced US role in the conflict, directly and indirectly. But its undeniable that the Yemeni regime is currently committing war crimes, and has committed mass violations and mass murder for years in the Saada War, in the south as well across the nation.

HRW 7/9/11, (Aden) – Yemeni forces may have killed dozens of civilians in unlawful attacks while fighting an Islamist armed group in southern Abyan province since May 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. The militants in Abyan, called Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), may have unlawfully placed civilians at risk by deploying in densely populated areas and engaged in looting and other abuses, Human Rights Watch said. (Read on …)

Not unusual, a unit was left surrounded during the Saada War for six weeks until the soldiers called local media. Its important to recall the Defense Minister hinself was the one who engaged in the hiring of the jihaddists during the battle of Jaar in 09. Meanwhile Tariq al Fahdli is calling for negotiations, no prob I’m sure as US policy now includes negotiating with the Taliban.

Yemen Online: Fifty Yemeni troops have been posted as missing after clashes with militants around the southern city of Zinjibar, a commander said on Saturday, accusing top brass of abandoning them to al Qaeda.

“We have lost all trace of 50 soldiers after an attack by al Qaeda elements enabled them to recapture control of the al Wahda stadium” outside Zinjibar, the commander serving with the 25th Mechanised Brigade told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He was unable to specify whether the troops had been killed, captured or deserted in the battle for the stadium which the army had recaptured from the militants only Friday.

The commander accused the defence ministry of abandoning the brigade’s soldiers to their fate in the face of repeated attacks by the militants of the Partisans of Sharia movement who seized much of Zinjibar in late May. (Read on …)

Sahwa Net – A Yemeni opposition leader in Marib, Mabkhot Al-Shareef, has said that most those people involved in a 43- person blacklist published by the interior Ministry are members of the ruling party in Marib .

Al-Shareef affirmed that most of those included in the list accused of bombing oil pipelines and destructing electricity stations are the ruling party’s members of local councils in Marib. (Read on …)

al jazeera reports clashes in al Houta.

Dozens of alleged al-Qaeda gunmen attacked security and government buildings in the southern town of Huta, killing two policeman and wounding five others, Yemeni medics and residents said.

Fierce clashes broke out at dawn on Wednesday between the armed men and police around the local branches of intelligence and central bank, and the courts in the Lahij province town of Huta, before dispersing toward nearby farms, residents said. (Read on …)

WaPo: SANAA, Yemen — Islamist extremists, many suspected of links to al-Qaeda, are engaged in an intensifying struggle against government forces for control of southern Yemen, taking advantage of a growing power vacuum to create a stronghold near vital oil-shipping lanes, said residents and Yemeni and U.S. officials.

Over the past few weeks, the militants have swiftly taken over two towns, including Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, and surrounding areas and appear to be pushing farther south, said Yemeni security officials and residents. Increasingly, it appears as if al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate is seeking for the first time to grab and hold large swaths of territory, adding a dangerous dimension to Yemen’s crisis. (Read on …)

The clufu continues. The following is an excerpt (googlish) of a report from Bakeel.net (of the Bakil tribe) on the prison break and chaos in Zinjibar that includes some statements by former Interior Minister Hussain Arab, who issued the travel docs to al Nashiri in 2000. I think the irony of his statement accusing Saleh of activating al Qaeda is lost on him.

Bakeel.net

And spread by masked gunmen in downtown Zanzibar and streets and government institutions, while the city has been witnessing an exodus of the population. As the region is witnessing violent clashes between insurgents and Brigade 125 in the city of Zanzibar, where the use of various heavy weapons and Alkhvivip. Gunmen stormed the central prison in the city was the release of detainees inside and according to eyewitnesses. The city has the widespread looting on the institutions and government facilities. And accused former Interior Minister Hussein Mohammed Arab regime of President Saleh al-Qaeda support through the “handing over” a number of cities Abyan governorate, which led to a regulation on the control of the reins in Zanzibar. (Read on …)

Update: 1) UNHCHR 20,000 internally displaced displaced by the fighting. 2) Residents report severe water shortage, roads cut.

original: So I’m the only one who recalls Saleh’s long time stooge Khalidabdul Nabi ( al Nabi background here) and all that blah blah about reviving the Aden Abyan Islamic Army to establish an Islamic Emirate. As recently as 48 hours ago the USG was talking about AQAP in Abyan. Is it shorthand for any jihaddist, a scare tactic or ignorance? The militants in Abyan are historically more likely to be state jihaddists than the Wahishi death cult. Saleh has corrupted everything in Yemen including its jihaddists.

See 12/28/09 “Nabi calls for an Islamist state in Yemen.” Do we recall the January 09 face to face meeting with Saleh and Nabi and others that culminated in the Feb 09 release of the 109 aged members of the Aden Abyan Islamic Army (as the Yemeni embassy described them at the time, making quite clear at the time they were not al Qaeda). For names of the attendees, see here. There was also a large chunk of cash that changed hands at the time. Earlier on Khanfar, Abyan.

DW “Saleh is known for the creative use of chaos as a means of control, and has pitted jihadists against the South before, so it could be a strategy,” Professor Sheila Carapico, a Yemen expert at the University of Richmond and the American University in Cairo, told Deutsche Welle….Yemen’s elite, American-trained counterterrorism units had been engaging AQAP elements in fierce clashes throughout the region in recent months but were pulled out of Abyan just days before the AQAP raid on Zinjibar took place. Reports from Zinjibar claimed that the militants were unopposed and took over the city without a shot being fired, an unusual event given the severity of combat that had taken place between government forces and militants in the preceding weeks.

Local residents in Zinjibar also claim that, far from being hardcore AQAP fighters, the militants were members of the estimated 300-strong Ansar al-Sharia movement, a group of local tribesman committed to setting up a fundamentalist state in the south of Yemen, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Ansar al-Sharia is thought to have no connections with the protestors in the capital Sanaa or the opposition forces battling his troops elsewhere in the country.

Other reporting (Read on …)

Many foreigners, dozens, have been kidnapped in Yemen by tribes over the last decade and all have been returned without harm. The timing of this is off though. Some are saying that since the “AQAP take-over of Abyan” didn’t generate a US reversal, Saleh is continuing to play on AQ fears with this incident. Maybe his forces will find and rescue them into order to put Saleh in a good light.

BBC: Three French aid workers are feared kidnapped after going missing in southern Yemen, officials say. The three are reported to have gone missing in Hadramawt in the south-east.

They had been in Seyun since mid-April working for Triangle Generation Humanitaire, a French NGO working in Yemen since 1998. (Read on …)

The spree continues, Yemen Post

At least three people were killed, including two soldiers and another wounded in Yemen’s southern province of Hadhramout.

Private sources said that suspected Al-Qaeda militants attacked a governmental patrol vehicle at a checkpoint belonging to the Central Security Unit in Mukalla, killing two soldiers and a civilian and wounding another. (Read on …)

Wired: Also on Friday, another group of suspected terrorists attacked a security checkpoint in the southern province of Shabwa. At least three police officers were killed and another one was injured.

Hindustan Times:
Al-Qaeda militants have kidnapped an intelligence officer today in Yemen’s south while unknown gunmen killed a soldier and a policeman in separate attacks, a security official told AFP. “Masked Al-Qaeda armed men stopped a bus in Loder,” in Abyan province, which has become one of the jihadists’ stronghold, and “abducted a Yemeni intelligence officer named Fadhel Ahmed Mohsen,” said the official. (Read on …)

Its unbelievable. These are the guys who were initially repeatedly proclaimed to be going on trial for the pedestrian suicide attack on then UK ambassador Tim Torlott’s convoy. (The attack was widely thought to be a false flag attack by the Yemeni government using its terrorist connections and some clueless teenager to send a message to the UK regarding support for the south.) But the defendants were eventually charged with a hodgepodge of crimes in Marib (which may or may not include the July 2007 car bomb that killed eight Spanish tourists). They were tried in a group that included Badr al Hassani who stated that he was paid by the PSO to train terrorists in Marib in hand to hand combat. The court ordered the Marib Deputy Chief of the PSO to appear in court and then the whole thing just faded away, as it often does in Yemen. Earlier reporting here .

SANA’A, May 13 (Saba) – The Specialized Criminal Division in the capital Sana’a is to start on Sunday its first hearing to consider the appeal of two al-Qaeda suspects convicted of carrying out terrorist acts.

On March 15, the Specialized Penal Court in the capital Sana’a sentenced each of Saddam Hussein al-Rimi and Rami Hermel Hans (German nationality) two years from the date of their arrest.

The court ordered them to be put under police surveillance and prevented them from traveling to any province after their release for two years, after they were convicted of committing terrorist attacks on foreign tourists, facilities and interests in Marib province during (2008-2010).

So they got a two year sentence for murdering foreign tourists, which included time served. Now they are free but not allowed to leave the country.

For more see, Yemeni al Qaeda leader: State conducts terror attacks dtd 12/3/08:

Officials earlier announced Dhayani was the recruiter and driving instructor for the suicide car bomber who murdered eight elderly Spanish tourists in Mareb in July 2007. Dhayani is Mareb under the protection of Jahm tribe and granted the interview to Mareb Press after taking several security precautions.

“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 said in the explosive interview.

Fast forward to today and we have the US government fighting tooth and nail to keep this lying, double dealing, murderous dirtbag in his post despite the fact that the US trained Yemeni counter terror forces are shooting unarmed teenagers in the head because they are demanding democracy. It is thought a more representative Yemeni government would be less liberal in granting CT permissions to the US.

dtd 5/24,

Newser

(Newser) – The FBI has now definitively linked top al-Qaeda bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri to a trio of explosives used in two recent attempts to attack the US, via a fingerprint and forensic evidence. Al-Asiri, who works in Yemen with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was already suspected of being involved with the Christmas Day “underwear bomber” in 2009; investigators have pulled one of his fingerprints off that bomb. They also determined that the explosives used in the underwear bomb are chemically identical to those hidden inside two printers shipped from Yemen last year; al-Asiri had also been suspected in that plot.

Its been two days and there’s no independent confirmation that this even happened. Its such a murky country due to the censorship. But if true, the incident also shows that AQAP is continuing its violence in Yemen.

4/7/11 ADEN — Two soldiers kidnapped by tribesmen in southern Yemen were found with their throats slit on Tuesday in the restive province of Abyan, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, a security official said.

The two soldiers were murdered in an Al-Qaeda-style execution, the official said, requesting anonymity.

He said the execution of hostages went against the norms of Yemeni tribes, which often resort to kidnapping as a means of exerting pressure on local authorities, implying Al-Qaeda militants could have been behind the killings.

Local residents told AFP the corpses were found with gunshot and knife wounds on the side of a road outside the unrest-strewn town of Loder.

The two soldiers were kidnapped last Thursday in Loder by tribesmen in retaliation for the Yemeni military’s killing of six suspected Al-Qaeda militants last month.

A security official said on March 26 that army troops killed the six as they attacked an army post in Loder.

Yemeni forces kill 11 al-Qaeda members
[11/April/2011]
ABYAN, April 11 (Saba)- At least 11 al-Qaeda members, including two foreigners, were killed on Monday in a clash with Yemeni forces in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, a security source has said.

The source was quoted by the military-run 26sep.net as saying that al-Qaeda members had attacked a checkpoint at Mudia district in Abyan, killing two Yemeni soldiers and wounding five others.

The source added that a number of al-Qaeda members were also injured in the clash.