Armies of Liberation

AP

Yemen identifies attackers in US embassy attack

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — The suicide squad that assaulted the U.S. embassy in Yemen in September had links to al-Qaida and some even had fought in Iraq, a Yemeni security official said Saturday.

The official added that the United Nations has raised its security level in Yemen in response to terrorist threats.

The six Yemeni men who carried out the Sept. 17 attack against the gates of the U.S. embassy were trained at al-Qaida camps in the southern Yemeni provinces of Hadramut and Marib and three of them had recently returned from Iraq, the official added.

Yemen Times oped

Most of these religious schools and universities have curricula that promote religious fanaticism and such institutions which produce fundamentalists are being supported by the state big guys.

Our schools and mosques in general teach curricula that legalize the killing of non-Muslims and consider them infidels; these curricula present the Western people and their civilization as immoral and whatever they produce in terms of technology as false and fantasy for the people there have lost their spirituality and their life is therefore fruitless and they will all go to hell. Muslims, however, are presented as the torch bearers of the truth and morality; we are all virtuous and non-Muslims are bad.

Judge Hamud al-Hitar and his fellow clerics have been conducting dialogues with a handful of extremist prisoners, convincing them to be loyal to the rulers by not carrying out attacks inside Yemen. By the end of the day, some of these people went away from jails and went back to their hostile ideology. The judge who is now the minister of endowment and religious guidance had better address the mosque sermons that promote hostility through praying to God to turn all non-Muslims and their wives spoils for Muslims. It is a disgusting religious discourse that portrays the Christians and Jews as enemies orchestrating all the trouble we are going through, neglecting the substantial reasons behind our problems.

Such curricula and sermons spitting out hostility and hatred should stop for such a language painted with religious holiness finds its easy way to the hearts of frustrated youngsters. Such a hostile religious rhetoric in this way turns into a day to day culture and a way of life. It is difficult to imagine how life will look when extremism that leads to terrorism becomes a culture for many of the people.

All in all, security action is not enough to address terrorism. Any serious steps in tackling the question of extremism and terrorism should start from reforming such curricula and mosque sermons that stand as the momentum of our plight with terrorism.

Some assorted old links for you people interested in these things.

February 2006 News Yemen: Two others (escapees) are from al-Tawheed battalions that were headed by Anwar al-Jelani. They are: Abdulrahman Ahmed Basurra, and Khalid Mohammed al-Batati.

March 2006, Institute for Counter Terrorism: As early as August 8, 2005, six months before the most recent series of trials, a Yemeni court sentenced six members of al-Qa’ida’s “Kata’ib al-Tawheed” (”Unification Battalions”) to prison terms of two to four years. The men-one Iraqi, three Yemenis and two Syrians-were convicted of plotting attacks against the Italian and British embassies, in addition to the French Cultural Center in Sana.

October 2007, Yemen Times: The escapees also include four runaways, against whom verdicts of being affiliated with Al-Qaeda and forming armed gangs were issued. Two others belong to an Al-Tawheed group cell, along with convict Abdullah A. Al-Raimi, whom Qatar handed over to Yemen. The latter was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.

July 2008, News Yemen: A source close to al-Qaeda group in Yemen told Abwab magazine, the latest issue, that “all attacks that targeted police stations and oil companies last months were carried out by Hamza al-Qaeti’s group that he said is different from Qasem al-Raimi and Naser al-Wahishi. It said that “al-Qaeti is interested to carry out attacks just to keep his group’s element enthusiastic, but al-Raimi and al-Wahishi do not agree to carry out operations unless they obtain crucial goals.”

July 2008, Yemen Observer: Al-Tawheed battalions affiliated to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced accountability of launching the terrorist attack that targeted the central security camp and security complex in Sayoun city in Hadramout governorate in the south east of Yemen at the early hours of last Friday.

August 2008 News Yemen: The al-Qaeda in Yemen, Yemen’s Soldiers Brigades, has threatened to revenge for killing five of its operatives and arresting two in clash with security forces two weeks ago in Tarim of southeastern Hadramout province. In a statement posted by al-ekhlaas.net on Tuesday and attributed to Abu Osama said: “We vow to operate a reprisal operation very soon, if God willing. The news is what you see, not what you hear”. It admitted the murder of its mastermind in Yemen Hamza al-Qaiti and other fellows and claimed that al-Qaeda operatives could kill eight policemen, “not two as Interior Ministry announced.”

Lost the link for this one but its also August 2008:
Five members of an al-Qaeda cell were arrested in Qatan district of Hadramout governorate in the south east of Yemen on Monday August 19, said a source at Hadramout governorate security. The security source affirmed that the police forces could arrest five members of al-Tawheed battalions affiliated to al-Qaeda in Qatan district to the west of Sayon city in Hadramout governorate.

One more August 30 AFP. The operation was part of an offensive against religious extremists responsible for attacks against security forces and oil installations in the south, the official said.

In 2003, Abdel Nabi, a member of the Jihad movement — which has no links to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network — launched a series of attacks before going into hiding in the Jabal Hatat mountains.
Five of Abdel Nabi’s supporters were killed in an operation by security forces.

Gulf Research Center

Al Qaeda in Yemen Divided

In mid 2007, al-Qaeda announced the existence of its branch in Yemen on an Islamist website. Since then, and until recently, most analysts assumed that the al-Qaeda branch in Yemen was a unified organization, with one leadership and one central command. Lately, however, evidence has emerged that points to a possible split within the organization’s Yemen branch. Allegedly, a dispute has developed among the organization’s members concerning the issue of leadership and command structure, besides disagreements over the group’s operational strategy and targeting policy.

The first group - the original or the main group - calling itself al-Qaeda in Yemen or ‘al-Qaeda in the Southern Peninsula’ has been operating under its chosen leader Nasir Abdul-Karim al-Wuhayshi, the 31-year-old from the al Baydha governorate who had spent time in Afghanistan. This group includes a small number of the 23 wanted escapees who broke out of Sana’a political security prison in February 2006. The group is indirectly linked to the top leadership of the al-Qaeda organization based somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer

A new group suspected of affiliated to al-Qaeda was detained in al-Qia’an in Hadramout province in the past two days, said an official security source today (Saturday) August 30.

The source added that a store containing big quantities of weapons, shells, explosives and ammunition was also discovered hiden on top of a hill in al-Qia’an area of Thamoud district located in the middle of Hadramout province south east of Yemen.

The security source said that 21 big boxes full with weapons and explosives including RBG missiles and severe explosives were found in the hidden store.
“After examining the shells it was found that they were of the same sort of shells that were used in the suicide attack launched at the central security complex in Sayoun on July 25 and were the same kind of explosives found in the hide out of Tarim cell.

The security authorities had announced last Thursday detaining 30 al-Qaeda suspects in Hadramout and four others in Abyan province last week.

Escaped al Qaeda operative Hamza al Quayti was killed in a shootout along with four other al-Qaeda operatives as well as two policemen. President Saleh said the group was planning attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A published report indicated elements within Yemeni security forces directed al Qauyti in March to launch a failed mortar attack on the US embassy and cleared the roads for his escape after the attack. The coordinates were off deliberately, the report says. The official regime meme is the current raid is proof Yemen is cooperating in the WOT, and deserves “greater international support and understanding” The group is supposedly responsible for all three car bombings (election, tourists, police station).

Daily Times: Yemen’s leading Al Qaeda fugitive killed in shootout

SANAA: Yemen said on Tuesday that a prominent fugitive member of the local branch of Al Qaeda was killed in a shootout when police stormed a house in the eastern province of Hadramaut.

Hamza al-Quayti, one of 23 Al Qaeda militants who broke out of jail in February 2006, was killed along with four other fighters in Monday’s clash in the town of Tarim, the defence ministry website September 26 said. Two policemen were killed and three others wounded, while two militants were wounded and captured, it added. The ministry said the militants who were hiding in a house stormed by security forces had formed a cell which “planned to execute terror attacks and bombings in Yemen and abroad”. It said police found explosives and documents including Arab passports, including two belonging to Saudis. It claimed the cell was behind attacks including a suicide car bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides at a historic site in Marib, east of Sanaa, in July 2007 (07/02.07).

(Read on …)

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Two Yemeni security officers and five suspected al-Qaida militants died in a gunbattle Monday in a southern Yemeni town, a provincial security official said.

Authorities also captured two suspected militants during the shootout, which took place in Tarim in Hadramawt province, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to journalists.

The provincial governor, Ahmed al-Khanbashi, said earlier that troops surrounded a house and exchanged gunfire with men inside who were believed to be members of an al-Qaida branch. He put the death toll at two militants and gave no further details.

Residents of the town said shooting raged for about two hours and some armed men managed to escape.

Last week, two grenades were thrown at a police convoy in the province’s capital, al-Mukalla, but caused no casualties. Earlier, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed a policeman in the Interior Ministry’s regional headquarters in Hadramawt.

Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, which is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden.

A name:

Sahwa Net- Three policemen were killed and three others were wounded in a shootout between security forces and al-Qaeda elements in Tarim of Hadhramout province, 800 kilometers east of Sanaa.

According to local sources, one suspect Abdullah Batais, was killed when the security forces stormed a home in which the suspects were hiding. The sources explained that shooting is ongoing up to now, pointing out that the suspects hurled a grenade on policemen while they were trying to storm the house.

So, the mortars were al Wahishi’s group and achieved crucial goals, and these attacks on security posts and oil pipe lines were al Qaeti’s group and designed to uplift morale only?

News Yemen

Security sources that NewsYemen called for details talked about the al-Qaeda’s proclamation last April claiming its responsibility for throwing three bombs to the same compound. They said that Friday’s attack came after arresting “a dangerous wanted” in Hadramout….

A source close to al-Qaeda group in Yemen told Abwab magazine, the latest issue, that “all attacks that targeted police stations and oil companies last months were carried out by Hamza al-Qaeti’s group that he said is different from Qasem al-Raimi and Naser al-Wahishi. It said that “al-Qaeti is interested to carry out attacks just to keep his group’s element enthusiastic, but al-Raimi and al-Wahishi do not agree to carry out operations unless they obtain crucial goals.”

A senior security source said in a statement to Abwab that “al-Qaeda in Yemen is changing its mechanisms to carry out operations”.

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for two attacks with mortar rounds on the US Embassy and a housing compound for foreigners in the capital Sana’a last March and April.

In September 2006, explosive-loaded vehicles attacked two oil facilities in Hadramout and Mareb.

Sayoun’s attack was the first on a police station by an explosive vehicle.

In the aftermath of the attack, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the same compound and demanded that authorities withdraw police camps from cities and to compensate victims.

No no no, its a demand for five million dollars and cancel a concert or they will do more scary things, boo! They will annihilate those who attempt to harm (their version of) Islam. Surrender or die.

How sad the suicide bomber was a medical student, meaning he originally wanted to help and heal people but instead he turned into a mass murderer. Because of a concert. How imperialistic these al-Qaeda lunatics are, demanding all of society conform to their thinking and dictates- or die. They are dreamining of their own style of tyranny and everyone is Yemen has to pay the price for those violent and self-rightous dreams.

Islamic Jihad Group claim responsibility for Sayun blast
Sunday 27 July 2008 00ouSun, 27 Jul 2008 00:15:57 +0300 12 AM / Mareb Press

The Organization of Islamic Jihad in Yemen claimed on Friday responsibility for the attack that targeted the Central Security in Say’un city, in Hadramout province.

In the suicide attack, one policeman was killed and 17 people were injured in the suicide attack and about 366 neighbouring houses were affected by the blast.

The organization said in a statement that the attack came to protect Islam from these festivals and concerts performed by some Arab singers in Yemeni cities.

The statement said, “We, the Organization of Islamic Jihad in Yemen, claim responsibility for the martyr attack in Hadramut… this is a lesson to those who might be tempted to harm the religion of Islam,” threatening of annihilate them.

The organization said its next operation would be in Sana’a to annihilate those who are trying to corrupt the minds of the youth through singing and the mixing of sexes.

The statement demanded to cancel the concert of an Egyptian singer, Ihab Tawfeeq, within 48 hours, otherwise the concert “will be turned into crying and wailing.”

The organization demanded the government in the statement to pay five million dollars within 48 hours in return for stopping the terrorist attack which are “terrifying the people.”

On the other hand, a security source said that the investigation could identify the perpetrator of the suicide attack. The sources said the perpetrator of the suicide attack was a former student in medial college in Hadramout Science and Technology University and he is called Ahmed Saeed Omar al-Mashjari.

Al Jund? (Next AAIA…)

July 26 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a police station that killed two people and injured 18 others in Yemen’s Hadramout province.

The attack on Friday was in retaliation for the killing of al Qaeda militants in Yemen, the Yemen Soldiers Brigades said in a statement on a Web site often used by al Qaeda.

In Friday’s attack, a car tried to enter the police complex but exploded after it was stopped at the gate, killing the attacker and a police guard.

Earlier this year, gunmen killed two Belgian tourists in the Hadramout region in an attack the government said was believed to have been the work of al Qaeda.

Ok so thats three missing mortar attacks (Sana’a- US embassy, housing compound, Italian embassy), three exploding car attacks (Hadramout, Marib- thwarted attacks on oil facilities 2006, tourists at the temple Marib 2007 and police station in Hadramout 2008,), and several non-lethal, sometimes off-hour, bombings of buildings, oil lines and security patrols. Ok I’m getting the fractured feeling.

Update: YO: skepticism over claims of responsibility,

Al-Tawheed battalions affiliated to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced accountability of launching the terrorist attack that targeted the central security camp and security complex in Sayoun city in Hadramout governorate in the south east of Yemen at the early hours of last Friday.

News Yemen website stated it received a statement issued by the al-Tawheed battalions claiming they have launched the terrorist attack to announce their rejection for the carnivals and festivals, threatening they would launch another attack in Sana’a if the Sana’a Summer tourist festival would not be cancelled.

The statement released on Saturday expressed rejection for such festivals which the statement said have been spoiling Yemeni female kids through involving them in singing and dancing activities and mixing them with males. The statement added that this operation came within the frame of defending Islam.

The death toll of the terrorist attack has risen to five persons killed and 15 others injured. Two of the critically injured were rushed to Sana’a on Saturday. The Yemeni security authorities believed the attacker was killed in the blast and that the attack was launched by a suicide car bomb.

According to News Yemen website the persons from al-Jihad organization that sent the statement have also demanded US$ five millions to stop launching similar attacks.

Some analysts when read the statement and the demands dismissed that al-Qaeda or al-Jihad organizations were behind the attack or was the one that sent the statement.

The analysts stated that al-Qaeda never asks for ransoms or money and that it has been always focusing on the political oratory rather than such art and tourism festivals.

In a related issue some security sources revealed that a truck loaded with explosives was detained in al-Alam area located in the road linking between Abyan and Aden governorates while trying to get to Aden city yesterday.

In response to the threat for cancelling the activities of Sana’a Summer Tourism Festival, Fathia Hameedaldeen principal of al-Nizari girls school in the capital Sana’a said her school girls have been contributing in the festival, displaying 25 folkloric female dresses representing all the 22 governorates of Yemen. “We strongly condemn such threats that we believe were issued by people who have been trying to curb any development or tourism campaigns that aim at boosting tourism and improving the economic situations in the country, “said Hameedaldeen. However she said she and her school girls don’t care about such threats and would continue displaying their folkloric dresses according to the festival’s schedule.

“I don’t believe that Islam prohibits 10 years old girls to display dresses or show their faces publicly,” she added. She affirmed that all the participating girls were chosen carefully making sure their ages are young. “We know our religion and our traditions well so we have never and would never ever violate our religion or tradition rules,” said Hameedaldeen.

The ten year old girls will stand up to them if no one else will.

The US financial assessment team found efforts to counter money laundering are in their infancy, or non-existent. Parliament is stalling the bill because it will restrict the transfer of charity funds and/or to “legitimate resistance” like Hamas.

SANA’A, July 23 (Saba) - Plans the Yemeni government has taken to fight money laundering and terrorism finance and preventing the establishment of unlicensed currency exchange companies helped revive the currency exchange during the last ten years, a report has said.

The report issued by the Yemen Central Bank noted that the exchange companies number has more than doubled in a decade. This number increased from 210 to 528. The improvement came as the government introduced a new law for combating money laundering and terrorist finance that is yet to be approved by the parliament.

According to the report, the Yemen Central Bank makes it compulsory for exchange companies to present detailed information about their banking services. The bank increased these companies capital to YR 20 million to increase their annual fees to YR 1 million and the individual institutions to YR 150.000.

Trend

Three policemen injured in southern Yemen ambush
08.07.08 17:26

Suspected Islamic militants on Tuesday ambushed a police patrol in southern Yemen, injuring three policemen, local sources said.

The police vehicle was attacked while driving on a highway leading to Ja’ar city in the southern province of Abyan, the sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Believed to be members of a militant Islamic group, the attackers opened fire on the vehicle and fled into the mountains, the sources said.

Police forces set up checkpoints and sent troops to the area to chase the attackers, witnesses said.

Ja’ar is located nearly 600 kilometres south of the capital Sana’a, and is close to mountains where armed Islamic groups take shelter.

In March, five policemen were injured in a bomb attack against the local government compound in Ja’ar. Officials said Islamic insurgents were behind the attack.

Im surprised they take credit when they miss so much…

Yemen Times

Two embassies, two tourist groups, two oil facilities and six security checkpoints were targeted
Al-Qaeda claims rocket attack on oil constructions in Mareb

SANA’A, July 6 — An armed group— allegedly affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula— declared last week that it was responsible for a rocket attack that targeted an oil construction in Marib, located to the northeast of Sana’a.

According to a press release attributed to the so-called “Yemen Warriors Battalions,” armed Islamists launched three Katyusha rackets on the Safer oil refinery in Marib on June 25 with the goal of “rupturing the artery of Zionist - Crusader supply.” The press release didn’t mention the success or the failure of the attack, which came less than a month after a similar attack that targeted oil refineries in Aden.

Al-Qaeda armed operations have been increasing since the suicide bombing that targeted a Spanish tourist group in Marib last July, especially in the governorates of Marib and Hadramout.

(Read on …)

errrrr… Arbitrary detiontion are a problem for everybody in Yemen but we can’t take anything at face value. Wasn’t the last statement to al-Wasat discredited? Is this from Jund al-Yemen or al-Qaeda in Yemen? There’s always more questions than answers.

Al Qaida threatens to turn Yemen into ’second Iraq’
, 03 Jul 2008 12:55:28 +0300 12 PM / Mareb Press–By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent

An alleged Al Qaida leader threatened on Wednesday to make Yemen like Iraq if the Yemeni government did not release Al Qaida men and stop hunting them down.

The Yemeni government arrested about 50 young men, including students from Quran memorisation schools, during last June, said an official in the alleged military wing of Al Qaida in Yemen.

“If you want to make Abu Ghraib in the prison of the political security [intelligence], then we will make Yemen second Iraq,” threatened the man, who was identified as Abu Yahya, in a statement published by the interdependent Al Wasat weekly.

Abu Yahya said that the military wing of Al Qaida in Yemen will reply in the appropriate time to such “irresponsible actions and arbitrary detentions”.

The threatening statement came after a failed attack claimed by Al Qaida on oil installations in Mareb, east of the country in the lats week of June, 2008.

The regime refuses to keep even convicted terrorists in jail and al-Hitar’s dialog only requires a promise not to launch attacks within Yemen.

YemenOnline-July 2,2008- Judge. Hamoud Al-Hitar, Minister of Endowment and Guidance, confirmed to YemenOnline that Yemen intends to provide appropriate circumstances to receive the 106 Yemeni prisoners of Guantanamo who are expected to come back home soon.

He declared that Yemen Government, aiming at incorporating those prisoners into the community, plans to intellectually rehabilitate them and eliminate the extremist concepts influenced by Al-Qaeda.The British and American Governments intend to have Mr. Al-Hitar’s assistance in this regard as he had had previous successful experiences of intellectually rehabilitating over 420 persons influenced by the extremist ideas of Al-Qaeda during the period 2001 to 2005.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The United States said it would not like to keep detainees in the US Guantanamo Bay, including Yemenis, anymore.

The official of Detainees File at the US Department of State Tony Rech, who is on a special visit to Yemen for the issue of Yemeni detainees in Gitmo along with other delegates, said in an interview with the independent al-Nida weekly published on Wednesday that detainees in Gitmo are being assessed individually as “some detainees are more dangerous than some others”.

We are serious about closing Guantanamo Bay, but what we are looking forward is to get warrantees that limit the danger some detainees may represent, said the US officials.

(Read on …)

Another strange story, AKI

Sanaa, 26 June (AKI) - The authorities in Yemen have arrested 10 suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in two different police operations conducted in the capital Sanaa and in the desert area of Hadramawt, in the south of the country.

According to a report in London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, among those arrested was one of al-Qaeda in Yemen’s top leaders, Haytham Bin Saad.

Bin Saad was detained with four other extremists in Hadramawt on Wednesday, while five others were arrested in the capital.

Bin Saad was sent to the prison in Sayun pending his transfer to Sanaa.

Meanwhile also on Wednesday, leaflets containing Jihadi propaganda were distributed in the southern province of Ibb.

The leaflets accused the secretary of the Socialist Party, Yahya Mansour Abu Asba of being a “unbeliever” and a “Communist”.

Asba has been assigned a police escort as there is concern that al-Qaeda terrorists could try to kill him.

In recent months, the al-Qaeda organisation in Yemen has resurfaced, claiming responsibility for an the 18 March missile attack on the American embassy in Sanaa.

At a press conference on Tuesday, deputy prime minister Abdel Rabboh Mansur Hadi said the authorities in Yemen have over the past three years expelled 61,000 foreigners considered to be close to Islamic extremism.

The fifth missed mortar attack. Time to give Saleh more money….

AFP

SANAA (AFP) — The Yemen branch of Al-Qaeda said on Monday it had fired three rockets against an oil refinery east of Sanaa, but witnesses said the attack was abortive.

Al-Qaeda said in a statement posted on an Islamist website that its Jund al-Yemen (Soldiers of Yemen) group launched three Katyusha rockets against the Safir refinery in the Maarib province.

Wednesday’s attack was aimed at “drying up the supply of fuel of the Zionist and Crusader (regime of President President Ali Abdallah Saleh),” it said.

Yemen has not announced any attack but witnesses in the area, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital Sanaa, told AFP that two rockets had been found intact and not been fired, while the third missed its target.

Besides the refinery, the area has around 40 oil wells.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen has claimed numerous attacks against oil installations, the latest being early this months against the Aden refinery in the south of the country. The authorities say they have not caused any damage.

Update: “Near” the pipeline, missed again according to al-Motamar

Mareb Press

The oil pipelines in al-Buriqa zone, Aden, were hit by three missiles by unknown people.

Aden refinement is located in al-Buriqa Zone.

A security source told Mareb Press that there are no casualties. The source added tha the missiles targeted the oil pipelines.

The security authorities are still investigating the incident, the source added.

Some sources said that AlQaeda organization may be behind the attack.

(Read on …)

The jihadization of Yemen. If I call it the Talibanization of Yemen, will more people recognize the trend? (Interesting, but not unsurprising, the Minister of Tourism is in there…) Danged good Yemen Times oped:

Gracious are the Yemeni people. They will soon have guards to promote virtue and curb vice. A group of clerics led by Sheikh Abdulmajid Al-Zindani, rector of the Islamic Al-Iman University, recently spoke to President Ali Abdullah Saleh about setting up a national committee for promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. This information was announced recently by Hamud Hashim Al-Tharhi, a leading figure in the Islah party.

Al-Zindani and his fellows alleged that vice and debauchery has dominated the country. According to Al-Tharhi, the committee will involve the Ministers of Culture, Tourism and Information among others.

It has the same orientation as the anti-vice organization operating in Saudi Arabia for decades. While the Saudis are now trying to curb the activities of this organization as a part of their fight against terrorism and religious fanaticism, Yemen is just starting to allow it.

This is the latest invention of Al-Zindani following his allegations of his successful invention of a cure for HIV/AIDS. This man who has been once a cleric in the presidential council representing the Islah party in the then-coalition government is mad for publicity and seeing himself on camera. Following his ousting from the position as head of the Islah party’s Shura Council, he has been frantically trying to keep himself on camera in his effort to remain a public figure. He has been leading protests against the Israeli attacks on Palestinians and protests against the Danish cartoons.

(Read on …)

Well good for al-Eryany! Public takfirism (especially in the official media) does indeed feed terror and legitimates fanatical thinking.

Ergo, fatwas are not necessary to justify the Saada war if it is a justified action, as the state does have the right to a monopoly on the use of force. (It would be nice if the state stopped bombing civilians though and got some food in there.) And there is no need to call the Southerners unbelievers or godless. The state’s authority is derived from the people and their consent, in theory.

When the state fatwas the opposition, it adds a cultural legitimacy to the fanatical notion that one Muslim can declare another un-Muslim and deserving of death. Like al-Qaeda does. Its an important topic to be addressed. Pluralism and tolerance are characteristics of Yemeni society, however the state is undermining these characteristics whenever it brings religion into political discourse.

Politician’s taking advantage of religion feeds terror

Almotamar.net - The symposium on religious and political indulgence has on Monday recommended the work for disconnection between what is political and religions or the politician taking advantage of religion, holding the forces that employ the religious dimension the major part of responsibility for antagonism and arousing and feeding hostile tendencies in addition to pushing the intellectual phenomenon of extremism towards the practical phenomenon of terror.

The closing statement of the symposium organized by the Bridges of Cultures Forum, Chaired by Dr Abdulkarim al-Eryany and held over two days, also recommended the reconsideration of some concepts and policies and criteria, that proved their contribution to expansion of the sphere of extremism and driving its parties to terror.

While the participants affirmed that extremism and terror have no religion and no homeland and not to blame a certain homeland and religion for the act of some who are affiliate of them and are in fact faced with rejection by their societies, those participants also called fro revival of dialogue between religions provided that it should take a different title of dialogue among religious references.

Participants in the symposium called on all religious, political, cultural media institutions as well as political parties and civil society organisations, directly and indirectly concerned with the creation of public opinion and owner of the national, regional and international decision, for the necessity of making the values of tolerance and coexistence as the reference for first care in whatever it is planned for and they implement in service of the goals of social peace and human coexistence.

TML

Dell L. Dailey, coordinator of the Office for Counterterrorism in the State Department, said on the release of the report last week, that Yemen continued to implement a “surrender” program with terrorists.

Dailey added that the Yemeni courts had released, pending their appeals, several subjects wanted by the United States for acts of terrorism.

“Most notably on October 15, the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing and February 2006 prison escapee, Jamal Al-Badawi, surrendered to Yemeni authorities. He was released to house arrest on October 17, 2007 under the terms of this surrender program. Following substantial U.S. pressure, he was back in jail by October 29,” says the report.

The report also says the government’s capacity for stemming terrorism financing remains limited.

So far, there has been no official reaction to the report from the Yemeni government.

‘Abd Al-Bari Tahir, a political analyst, said that while Yemen suffered from terrorism like any other country, details in the report indicated there were deficiencies in Yemen’s security procedures and in its fight against terrorism.

“Terrorism needs a whole package of solutions, including cultural, educational, and moderate mosque sermons,” Tahir told The Media Line.

“The government fights terrorism either by confrontation or by conspiring with terrorists to achieve political gains, or using them against other parties. This is not enough in a poor country with a deteriorating economy and high rate of unemployment,” he said.

Al-Qa’ida Changing Tactics

A recent statement by Al-Qa’ida instructs its members to control the marine passages, mainly these surrounding the Arabian Peninsula, and particularly those in Yemen. The statement, entitled, “Marine Terrorism: A Strategic Necessity,” appeared on The Ekhlas Islamic Network,a website promoting Al-Qa’ida views and news.

“It has become very crucial to develop the battlefield to reach the sea,” the statement urges the Jihadists. “The sea remains the strategic step forward to dominate the world and reinstate the Islamic Caliphate.”

Generational Conflict

The former chief of the personal guards of the Al-Qa’ida leader said there was a huge conflict between the younger and older generations of the network.

Na’sir Al-Bahri, a taxi driver in ‘Sana, who is the subject of a security-monitoring program, said: “The new generation is very enthusiastic about Jihad. They want to just to fight, and they accuse the older generation of falling apart and getting weaker to continue the Jihad mission.”

“The context of the recent attacks discloses the background of the attackers,” Nabil Al-Sufi, a political and security writer told The Media Line. “It is the A-Zarqawi generation of Al-Qa’ida.

“This is clear from the immature operations, weaker attacks and easy and public targets. Most important is that these attacks have a security nature with no political agenda, which is the main objective of the older generation of Al-Qa’ida,” he said.

Not car bombs or a bomb near the wall, mortars again, they say they were aiming at the embassy:

DUBAI, May 3 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a failed mortar attack on the Italian embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa three days ago.

“Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula - Yemen Soldiers Brigades - claims responsibility for the blessed operation … on the morning of Wednesday April 30, 2008, (that attacked) the Italian embassy building in Sanaa with two mortar shells,” the group said in a statement posted on an al Qaeda-affiliated website.

It said the attack was aimed at expelling infidels from the Arabian Peninsula, home to Islam’s holiest sites.

Two shells hit the parking lot of a customs building adjacent to the Italian embassy on Wednesday, but there were no casualties.

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Yemen

Yemen’s 2007 counterterrorism record was mixed. The Republic of Yemen took action against al-Qa’ida (AQ) and local extremists, arresting and killing several individuals suspected of having AQ ties, and prosecuted the perpetrators of previous terrorist acts. However, significant setbacks included the June 22 announcement that Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi was the new head of al-Qa’ida in Yemen (AQY), and the July 2 terrorist attack in Marib that killed ten people. Despite United States pressure, Yemen continued to implement a surrender program with lenient requirements for terrorists it could not apprehend, which often led to their relatively lax incarceration. Yemen also released all returned Guantanamo detainees after short periods of assessment and rehabilitation, into a government monitoring program that lacked strict monitoring measures. U.S.S. Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi’s continued incarceration remained uncertain at the end of 2007.

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An internet posting by al-Qaeda in Yemen which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s mortar attacks on a residential compound in Sana’a, also said the group perpetrated the attacks Saturday on two security checkpoints in Hadramout, southern Yemen, which left one soldier dead and several wounded. The statement said the group would not rest until all polytheists were expelled from the Arabian peninsula and “the whole world is governed by the book of Allah.”

Earth Times

Sana’a - An al-Qaeda arm in Yemen claimed responsibility Tuesday for the mortar attack against a residential compound housing Americans in Sana’a two days ago. The group, known as “Yemen Soldiers Brigade,” said in a statement posted on an Islamic web site that the attack was carried out “to avenge our bother Mulla Dadallah.”

Mulla Dadallah, an Afghan Taliban leader, was killed in a US air strike in the southern Afghan region of Helmand in May 2007.

“A group of the Khaled Ibn al-Walid brigade attacked late on Sunday April 6, 2008 a housing compound for foreign nationals and Americans in Haddah of Sana’a province with three mortar shells,” said the statement.

The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, was posted on the al-Ekhlaas web site that regularly disseminates al- Qaeda statements.

On Monday, a government official said security authorities obtained a statement issued by al-Qaeda in Yemen claiming responsibility for the attack.

There were no casualties when the compound was hit by three mortar shells late Sunday, police said. They said the attackers managed to escape.

The high-security residential complex in the Haddah neighbourhood houses US diplomats and other Westerners working for foreign oil companies in Yemen.

The group also claimed in its statement, titled “Statement No. 4″, the responsibility for two attacks on military checkpoints in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadhramout on April 4.

Police have said that one soldier was killed and seven others injured after assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two military checkpoints in Hadhramout on Friday.

Memri: The communiqué further stated that the attack had been intended as revenge for the May 2007 killing of Mullah Dadullah, a Taliban military commander, and that the group “would not rest and would not yield until the last polytheist leaves Muhammad’s Peninsula [i.e. the Arabian Peninsula] and the whole world is governed by the Book of Allah.”

See what praising the forces of resistance and hosting people like al-Dhari gets you.

Maybe they’ll find al-Douri now.

Sanaa, 14 August (AKI) - Yemeni authorities claim to have foiled a terrorist attack in the port city of Aden, south of Sanaa, hours before its execution.

Sources told the Saudi newspaper, al-Watan,Yemeni police stopped a terrorist cell which was on the point of launching an attack against political and business targets last week.

Police said they were Iraqi war veterans who had fought beside local al-Qaeda guerillas and then sent to Yemen and other countries in the region to carry out attacks.

Almost all of them had reportedly completed terrorist training for suicide attacks.

The head of the cell was said to be a Yemeni with the battle name ‘ al-Lahji ‘, whose arrest two weeks ago led to the discovery of other cell members.

Fearing other members of the group could flee abroad for similar attacks, police increased security at Aden’s airport.

An engineer was arrested and after a few days released and was going to the United Arab Emirates to work for a local company.

The Yemen military on Monday were reported to have carried out a fresh raid against a group of alleged Islamist terrorists and arrested several fugitives in the province of Abin.

Last Tuesday Yemeni police claim to have found three Islamic extremists that were Iraqi veterans during an anti-terrorism exercise.

Another raid

Sanaa, 14 August (AKI) - The Yemen military carried out a fresh raid against a group of Islamic terrorists on Monday and arrested a number of fugitives in the province of Abin, south of the capital Sanaa, according to a report on the Arabic newspaper, al-Sharq al-Awsat.

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Lets add this guy to the Yemen deal pool. I have five bucks on not dead.

Khaleej Times

Reuters, 9 August 2007

SANAA - Al Qaeda’s second most senior leader in Yemen was not among four militants killed by security forces on Wednesday, a security source said, based on a medical examination of the corpse.

A security source said on Wednesday Qasem al-Raimi was killed in a raid along with other three militants in the city of Marib. The official Al-Thawra newspaper also put Raimi among the Marib dead and published his picture with its front page report.

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SANAA-Yemen, 3 Aug- Yemen’s deputy premier, minister of interior Dr Rashad Al-Alimi denied Friday what is reported that Yemen is fighting terror on behalf of the United States of America, saying ” We fight terror for preserving our stability and internal interests.”

The minister indicated that terrorist acts hit tourist, oil and strategic sites in Yemen therefore “we speedily joined the international campaign for combating terror to encounter this phenomenon.”

Al-Alimi has defined three challenges facing Yemen at the present time. The first are the challenges in the area of development as they are considered as a branched and deep issue, the second is related to terror and extremism and the third is embodied in the operations of democratic development and nurturing it.

In an interview to the UAE newspaper Al-Bayan Dr Al-Alimi said there are three challenges at this stage are facing the government and people of. The first is related to development as it is ramified and deep and not an easy one particularly that it is connected with the economic and human resources, stability and preparation of the society as an attractive environment for investment.

As for the second challenge it is terror and extremism which is among the most significant challenges and threats that Yemen faces as other societies face. He said “No doubt, what is going on in Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan creates unstable situations and produces terrorist elements and therefore we are studying implementation of a security strategy to encounter the waves of extremism and terror.”

The third challenge emerges in the process of democratic development and its nurture after it has moved from armed bloody conflicts and physical liquidation to the stage of democratic dialogue and political pluralism. “We have to work for taking care for the democratic pursuit to grow and develop to deepen it and reach at the correct democratic concepts of democracy and to convince all on the necessity of resorting arbitration of polling boxes and opinion of the majority.”

The minister said thesauri strategy applied in Yemen to encounter terror is based on four pillars; the first one is in facing the religious and ideological extremism and terrorist operations by resolute measures. The second pillar is based on that the economic situations, unemployment and political situation as a whole constitute a suitable environment for terror and extremism therefore “we have opened channels of contact to attract and contain the individuals that the terrorist groups could polarize them.” The third pillar is founded on strengthening security relations with security apparatuses in the sisterly and friendly countries concerning terror. The fourth pillar is based on creation of general awareness about danger of terror. Al-Alimi added” We have managed to communicate this message to each citizen in Yemen in that terror represents a threat to economy, development and life of the citizen.”

In response to the reality of the Iranian role in the Saudi crisis and if it was true that an Iranian plane dropped modern weapons to the Houthis Dr a-Alimi said it was untrue and the weapons in possession with al-Houthis are of the traditional weapons spread in Yemen. He said Yemen asked Iran to announce a clear stand regarding what happens in Saada and that it is not enough for Tehran to announce it is with stability and peace in Yemen.

Dwider not mastermind anymore.

Almotamar.net, Google Alerts - SAN’A, Yemen 3 August - Security authorities have identified the body of the suicide bomber who plowed his car into a convoy of Spanish tourists in early July, killing eight of them and two Yemenis, the official Saba news agency reported.
Saba said DNA tests of human remains found at the site of the bombing indicated the attacker was 21-year-old Abdu Mohammed Saad Ahmed, a Yemeni citizen.
The Spanish tourist group was visiting a temple linked to the ancient Queen of Sheba in the central province of Marib when it was targeted.
Thursday’s report said Ahmed lived in the capital, San’a, and was recruited by Hamza Ali Saleh al-Dhiyani, a taxi driver who gave the suspect driving lessons and then took him to Marib to introduce him to other members of the terrorist cell.

The group included a total of eight Yemenis and two foreigners, Naif Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi national, and Ahmed Bassiouni Dewidar, an Egyptian, according to Saba.
Seven members of the cell were reportedly tasked with planning and supervising the attack, while two others from Marib provided shelter and protection.
Police earlier thought Dewidar, an alleged al-Qaida operative who was killed three days after the attack while resisting arrest, was the mastermind behind the operation. But Saba said the government’s investigation revealed Dewidar had offered logistical support to the group.
Fifteen people have been detained in connection with the investigation, but the members of the terrorist cell who are still alive remain at large, according to Saba.

Front Page mag

What is particularly remarkable, though, for the purpose of this net assessment, is not how the jihadist groups persist, but how local governments fail to combat them. Whether from reluctance to stoke sectarian flames, fear of acknowledging the threat from these militant organizations, or political malaise that allows opposition movements to evolve into armed insurgencies, these governments have given the jihadists a readily exploitable opportunity. Until Blue can credibly control what counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen calls the “conflict ecosystem,” Red will continue to exploit its own variety of networks and inconsistent practices that amplify its appeal among local populations.[29]

Jamil al-Jadabi Almotamar.net - Reliable sources at the ministry of interior have affirmed Tuesday the closure last week of one of the largest market for selling and buying weapons in Yemen.

In a statement to almotamar.net the sources made it clear that a security campaign has closed down Jahana market, 40km to the east of the capital Sana’a weeks after the government announcement of defining 6 months for the plan of gathering weapons in implementation of the cabinet decision in late April of this year stipulating closure of shops selling weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Sana’a is trying to collect specifically heavy and medium weapons in dependence on a strategy based on compensating their owners with sums of money for a period of six months after which there will be imposing ban on them and confiscating them in case they are found after termination of the period. The government has allocated for this file billions of riyals in a bid to end the phenomenon of weapons trade and limit the phenomenon of carrying weapons that is much spread among Yemeni citizens particularly at the areas of tribes.

The interior ministries of defence and interior have recently displayed stores of heavy and medium weapons collected from citizens as part of the government campaign in this regard. The interior ministry plan for collecting weapons is aimed at collecting heavy and medium weapons and it has drawn up a plan for regulating the process of owning and carrying personal weapons.

Regime blames al-Qaeda.