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Al Qaeda frees 300 inmates in Yemen jailbreak

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Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jai. — Reuters/file

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jai. — Reuters/file

Aden: In a surprise attack, Al Qaeda militants stormed a prison in southeastern Yemen on Thursday, freeing several hundred inmates including one of their leaders, a security official said.

Two prison guards and five inmates were killed in clashes, the official said.

Qaeda militants stormed the center of the city of al-Mukalla, the capital of the southeastern province of Hadramawt, which was still controlled by pro-Hadi forces.

The militants also clashed with troops guarding the local adminstration complex in the city, a branch of the central bank and the police headquarters.

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jail in Hadramawt province, the official told AFP.

Batarfi is among Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) top regional commanders, known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with Yemeni government troops during which extremists seized swathes of territory in the south and east.

The remote area is also the ancestral home of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in a valley before moving to neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has descended further into chaos since a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes a week ago against positions held by Shia rebels and their allies across the deeply tribal country.

Observers have warned that Yemen-based AQAP, classified by the United States as the network’s deadliest franchise, could exploit the unrest to strengthen its presence in the country.

(Agencies)

Yemen sinks deeper into chaos after Daesh claims mosque bombings

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Two mosques, both located in Yemen's capital Sanaa, were hit with two suicide bombers each during midday prayers Friday in a string of attacks that was later claimed by Daesh. (AFP/File)

Two mosques, both located in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, were hit with two suicide bombers each during midday prayers Friday in a string of attacks that was later claimed by Daesh. (AFP/File)

by The Daily Star

Multiple suicide bombings claimed by ISIS killed at least 142 people and wounded around 351 others Friday at Shiite mosques in Yemen’s capital in the deadliest violence to hit the fragile war-torn nation in decades.

A group claiming to be a Yemeni branch of ISIS said it carried out the bombings and warned of an “upcoming flood” of attacks against the Houthi rebels, who have taken over the capital and much of Yemen. The claim, posted online, could not immediately be independently confirmed and offered no proof of an ISIS role.

If true, Friday’s bombing would be the first major attack by ISIS supporters in Yemen and an ominous sign that the influence of the group that holds much of Iraq and Syria has spread to the chaotic nation. The claim was posted on the same Web bulletin board where the ISIS affiliate in Libya claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s deadly attack on a museum in Tunisia.

A significant presence of ISIS supporters would add an alarming new element to the turmoil in this fragmenting nation. Yemen is already home to the most powerful branch of the Al-Qaeda network, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP militants seized control Friday of a southern provincial capital, Al-Houta, in the most dramatic grab of territory by the group in years.

Meanwhile, the Houthi rebels’ capture of the capital and a large swath of the country – at least nine of its 21 provinces – has raised fears of a civil war tinged with sectarianism. The government of the internationally backed president, Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi, has fled to the southern port city of Aden, where it battled Thursday with supporters of the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has allied with the Houthis.

AQAP has been battling for months against the Houthis in various parts of the country. But the group issued an official statement denying it carried out Friday’s bombings, pointing to earlier instructions from the terror network’s leader Ayman al-Zawahri not to strike mosques or markets.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. had seen no indications of an operational link between ISIS and Friday’s attacks.

He said the U.S. was investigating to see whether the ISIS branch in Yemen has the command-and-control structure in place to substantiate its claim of responsibility.

Earnest said it was plausible that ISIS was falsely claiming responsibility for the incident. “It does appear that these kinds of claims are often made for a perception that it benefits their propaganda efforts,” Earnest said.

In past months, there have been several online statements by individual Yemeni militants declaring allegiance to ISIS. The ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, formally accepted their oaths and declared a “province” of ISIS in Yemen in November. Baghdadi and his deputies in Iraq have vowed to strike against the Houthis in Yemen. That has raised questions whether direct operational links have also arisen. For example, In Libya, where ISIS also declared official “provinces,” fighters and officials are known to have been sent from the group’s core to build the local branch.

Friday’s bombings left scenes of bloody devastation in the Badr and Al-Hashoush mosques, located across town from each other in Sanaa. Both mosques are controlled by the Shiite Houthis, but they are also frequented by Sunni worshippers. Footage from the Al-Hashoush mosque, showed screaming volunteers using bloodied blankets to carry away victims, with a small child among the dead lined up on the mosque floor.

Two bombers hit each mosque during midday Friday prayers, when large crowds turn out to attend weekly sermons. Nashwan al-Atab, a member of the Health Ministry’s operations committee, told AFP 142 people were killed and at least 351 wounded.

A prominent Shiite Imam, Al-Murtada al-Mansouri, and two senior Houthi leaders were among the dead, the rebel-owned Al-Masirah TV reported.

It also reported that a fifth suicide bomb attack on another mosque was foiled in the northern city of Saada, a Houthi stronghold.

In the Badr mosque, the first bomber was caught by guards searching worshippers at the gate, where he detonated his device. In the ensuing panic, a second bomber entered the mosque and blew himself up amid the crowd, according to the official news agency SABA.

“I fell on the ground and when I regained consciousness I found myself lying in a lake of blood,” one survivor, Ahmad al-Gabri, told the AP. Two worshippers next to him were killed in the explosions, then another died when one of the mosque’s large glass chandeliers fell on him, Gabri said.

Another survivor, Sadek al-Harithi, said the explosions were like “an earthquake where I felt the ground split and swallow everyone.”

In the Al-Hashoush mosque, one witness said he was thrown two meters away by one of the blasts and found the floor strewn with body parts.

“Blood was running like a river,” Mohammed al-Ansi said.

In an online statement, a group calling itself the media office of ISIS “Sanaa Province” claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the four Sanaa suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds of Houthis.

“This operation is just a glimpse of an upcoming flood, God willing,” the group said in the statement. “We swear to avenge the blood of Muslims and the toppling of houses of God.”

“The soldiers of ISIS … will not rest until we have uprooted [the Houthis], repelled their aggression, and cut off the arm of the Iranian project in Yemen,” it said, referring to claims that Shiite powerhouse Iran is backing the rebels.

In a further sign of the country’s chaos, AQAP took control of the southern city of Al-Houta Friday, Yemeni security officials said. Al-Qaeda militants driving pickup trucks and flying black flags swept through the city, which is the capital of Lahj province. They took over the main security barracks, the governor’s office, and the intelligence headquarters, which houses prisons with Al-Qaeda detainees, the officials said.

Most of the security forces in the city surrendered to the militants without resistance. The militants killed 21 members of the security forces who resisted at the governor’s office, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Deadly clashes continue in Yemen as embassies shutdown

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Clashes between Shi’ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni fighters have killed 26 people in Yemen.

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen's new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis.

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen’s new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis.

by Reuters

Sanaa: Clashes between Shi’ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside Al Qaeda militants killed 26 people in Yemen, local officials said, as the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia and Western countries in closing its embassy in the country.

Heavy fighting was ongoing in the southern mountainous province of al-Bayda, leading to the death of 16 Houthi rebels along with 10 Sunni tribesmen and militants, security officials and tribal sources told Reuters.

The state faces collapse in Yemen two weeks after the Houthi group took formal control of the country and continued an armed push southward.

France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia have closed their missions in the capital Sanaa and withdrawn staff, citing security concerns.

The United Arab Emirates announced the closure of its embassy in Sanaa on Saturday, state news agency WAM said.

It cited “the increasing deterioration of the political and security situation Yemen is witnessing and the tragic events after the Houthis undermined the legitimate authority.”

Yemen’s rich Sunni Gulf neighbors loathe the Iranian-backed rebels and have called their rise to power a “coup.”

The embassy closures have isolated Yemen’s new rulers and lent urgency to struggling talks over internal power-sharing which the Houthis are conducting with opposition parties.

Hailing their advance as a “revolution” aimed at corrupt officials and economic ruin, the Houthis dissolved parliament and set up their own ruling body earlier this month.

Opponents say the group is backed by Yemen’s former strongman president Ali Abdullah Saleh – ousted in 2011 Arab Spring protests – and is bent on seizing land and the levers of power.

The Houthi spread to Yemen’s well-armed tribal regions in the East and South has prompted locals to make common cause with militants from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the deadliest arms of the global militant organization.

Months of combat and AQAP bombings directed against Houthi targets in Sanaa have stoked fears of an all-out sectarian war.

Embassies closed in Yemen as AQAP supporters pledge allegiance to ISIS

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Security forces stand guard around the US Embassy building in Sanaa, Yemen, on February 11, 2015 after the US government closed down its embassy. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

Security forces stand guard around the US Embassy building in Sanaa, Yemen, on February 11, 2015 after the US government closed down its embassy. Anadolu/Mohammed Hamoud.

Britain, the United States and France have pulled their ambassadors and other staff out of Yemen and suspended work at the embassies due to fears over the security situation, officials said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist militants in Yemen, which formerly had supported al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday.

The US State Department said on Tuesday it made the decision to close its Yemen embassy “due to the deteriorating security situation in Sanaa,” just as the United Nations brokered a second day of talks aimed at resolving the crisis gripping the country.

The UK’s move came after the United States said it was closing its embassy indefinitely after the Houthi militants, who staged a political takeover on February 6 , warned against attempts to destabilize the country.

Britain’s Foreign Office in London said operations at its embassy had been suspended “temporarily.”

“The security situation in Yemen has continued to deteriorate over recent days,” Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for the Middle East, said.

“Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk.”

“We have therefore decided to withdraw diplomatic staff and temporarily suspend the operations of the British Embassy in Sanaa,” Ellwood added. “Our ambassador and diplomatic staff have left Yemen this morning and will return to the UK.”

On Wednesday, the French embassy also suspended its operations for “security reasons.”

Anti-Houthi demonstrations

Yemenis in the central city of Taiz and the capital Sanaa held the largest protests yet against a takeover by a the Houthi militia group on Wednesday after Western countries shut their embassies in Yemen over security fears.

Houthi fighters, bedecked in tribal robes and automatic rifles, were out in force manning checkpoints and guarding government buildings they control in the capital.

Houthi gunmen shot in the air and thrust daggers at hundreds of protesters opposing their rule in Sanaa.

In Taiz, which the Houthis do not control, huge crowds of thousands carried banners and chanted slogans against the militants.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman has urged revolutionaries to use the fourth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to launch a fresh revolution against what she called the Houthi “coup.”

“This new revolutionary wave won’t stop until the army’s weaponry is restored, militias dissolved, and a modern state — that respects freedom, dignity, justice and equality — is established,” Karman said in a statement.

The Nobel laureate said that Yemen was currently at a critical juncture. “It will either be consumed by chaos and war or the youth will defeat violence through their peaceful and popular will,” she said.

Unfounded fears

On Tuesday, Houthi militia chief Abdel Malek al-Houthi said that foreign diplomats fears of instability was unfounded.

Speaking in a televised address as the UN-brokered talks carried on at a Sanaa hotel, Houthi sought to reassure diplomats after reports that some embassies in Sanaa intended to close.

“Some people are raising concerns among diplomatic missions so that they flee the country,” he said, adding that “these fears are unfounded. The security situation is stable.”

“It is in the interests of everyone, both inside and outside the country, that Yemen be stable,” Houthi stressed.

“The interests of those who bet on chaos and want to hurt the economy and security of the people will suffer,” the Houthi leader warned.

In particular, he singled out the monarchies in the Gulf, who have vowed to defend their interests in the face of what Houthis’ opponents are calling a coup.

Addressing his adversaries, Houthi proposed what he called “a partnership” under the “constitutional declaration” by which the militia seized power.

He took particular aim at the Islamist party al-Islah, one of the fiercest opponents of his militia, urging it to give up an ideology “that excludes the other.”

On February 6, matters came to a head when the Houthis said they had dissolved parliament and created a presidential council to bring the country out of crisis.

UN envoy Jamal Benomar warned that Yemen was at a “crossroads,” and urged political leaders to “take up their responsibilities and achieve consensus” as he battles for a negotiated solution.

Meanwhile, Houthis affirmed their military supremacy across the country as clashes broke out on Tuesday, leading to the militia taking control of the central al-Bayda province.

In Tuesday’s fighting, residents of the central city of Bayda said elements of the Republican Guard still loyal to the ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh had supported the Houthis in the heavy combat that led to the province falling under Houthi control.

In the west of the province, 10 Houthis were killed and another six captured in fighting with local tribesmen, tribal sources revealed.

The Houthi takeover has drawn international condemnation, including from UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling for President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has resigned, to be restored to power.

“The situation is very, very seriously deteriorating, with the Houthis taking power and making this government vacuum. There must be restoration of legitimacy of President Hadi,” Ban said.

The fall of Hadi’s government has sparked fears that impoverished Yemen — strategically located next to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf — could plunge into chaos.

AQAP allegiance to ISIS

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist fighters in Yemen renounced their loyalty to al-Qaeda’s leader and pledged allegiance to the head of ISIS, according to a Twitter message retrieved by US-based monitoring group SITE.

The monitoring group could not immediately verify the statement distributed on Twitter purportedly from supporters of AQAP based in central Yemen.

AQAP is considered the most powerful branch of the global militant network headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri and has previously rejected the authority of ISIS, which has declared a caliphate in large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

“We announce the formation of armed brigades specialized in pounding the apostates in Sanaa and Dhamar,” the purported former AQAP supporters wrote, referring to two central provinces.

“We announce breaking the pledge of allegiance to the sheikh, the holy warrior and scholar Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri … We pledge to the caliph of the believers Ibrahim bin Awad al-Baghdadi to listen and obey,” they said.

Militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Libya have also joined ISIS, signaling a competition for loyalty among armed Islamists battling states in the Middle East and North Africa.

US drones keep flying over Yemen

The Pentagon on Tuesday acknowledged that Yemen’s political unrest was impacting its counter-terrorism capabilities but said it was still training some Yemeni forces and could still carry out operations inside the country against al-Qaeda militants.

“There’s no question as a result of the political instability in Yemen that our counter-terrorism capabilities have been … affected,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news briefing.

“As I stand here today, we continue to conduct some training. We continue to have the capability — unilaterally if need be — of conducting counter-terrorism operations inside Yemen.”

Turmoil in the wake of late January’s collapse of a US-backed Yemeni government after days of clashes in the capital Sanaa, forced the US State Department to reduce staff and operations at the US Embassy.

The turmoil has also cast doubt over the future of a key partnership for Washington in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Only last September, US President Barack Obama touted cooperation with Yemen as a model in counter-terrorism.

The crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country threatens to create a power vacuum that could allow AQAP to expand across the peninsula.

In Late January, US officials said training of Yemeni special forces had ground to a halt in the capital, though some joint activities were continuing in the south.

The US officials added that they can continue drone strikes, as demonstrated by a February 10 attack in Hadramawt province in southeastern Yemen, which killed four suspected al-Qaeda members.

The Central Intelligence Agency, which conducts the bulk of drone operations in Yemen, has no drone bases on Yemeni soil but operates from Saudi Arabia and Djibouti, US officials say.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory. However, US drone attacks in the impoverished Gulf country have also killed many civilians unaffiliated with al-Qaeda.

(AFP, Reuters, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

Yemeni President, PM resign following political turmoil

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A Houthi fighter wearing uniform confiscated from the Yemeni army sits on a government tank in the area around the house of the country's president in the capital Sanaa, on January 22, 2015. AFP/Mohammed Huwais

A Houthi fighter wearing uniform confiscated from the Yemeni army sits on a government tank in the area around the house of the country’s president in the capital Sanaa, on January 22, 2015. AFP/Mohammed Huwais

Two powerful explosions struck Friday near the houses of two Houthi leaders in the group’s main stronghold in capital Sanaa, eyewitnesses said.

Loud sounds of explosions were heard in northern Sanaa’s al-Garaf district.

The houses of the two leaders sustained major damage but left no casualties, eyewitnesses told Anadolu news agency.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far. However, similar attacks targeting Houthis in Yemen have been claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The news comes after Yemeni President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi offered to resign following a standoff with the Houthi movement, throwing his country deeper into political turmoil.

In his letter of resignation on Thursday, Hadi, a key US and Saudi ally, said he could no longer stay in office as the country was in “total deadlock.”

“I believe that I have not been able to achieve the goals for which I took up my duties,” he said, adding that Yemen’s political leaders had failed “to lead the country to calmer waters.”

Prime Minister Khalid Bahah also tendered his resignation, saying he didn’t want to be part of the collapse of the country.

“We do not want to be a party to what is happening and what is about to happen,” Bahah said in his letter of resignation, adding that the government refused “to take responsibility for the actions of others.”

A senior official told AFP that Yemen’s parliament had rejected Hadi’s resignation.

“Parliament… refused to accept the president’s resignation and decided to call an extraordinary session for Friday morning,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The shock announcements came after Houthi fighters tightened their grip on Sanaa this week after seizing almost full control of the capital in September.

They had maintained fighters around key buildings on Thursday and continued holding a top presidential aide they kidnapped on Saturday, despite a deal to end what authorities called a coup attempt.

The potential fall of Hadi’s Western-backed government will raise serious concerns of strategically important but impoverished Yemen collapsing into complete chaos.

Al-Qaeda power base

The country is an important power base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni and Saudi branch of the international jihadist network.

AQAP is considered al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate and claimed responsibility for this month’s deadly attack on French satirical weeklyCharlie Hebdo, as well as numerous deadly attacks in Yemen.

Yemen has allowed the United States to carry out repeated drone attacks on al-Qaeda militants in its territory.

It is important to note that US drone attacks in the impoverished Gulf country have also killed many civilians unaffiliated with al-Qaeda.

Hadi is from Yemen’s formerly independent south and in recent days southern officials have taken steps to back his rule, including closing the air and sea ports in the main city of Aden.

The security and military committee for four of south Yemen’s provinces, including its main city Aden, said in a statement late Thursday it would not take orders from Sanaa following Hadi’s resignation and would defy all military orders from Sanaa if Hadi resigned.

The committee in charge of military and security affairs for Aden, Abyan, Lahej and Daleh, which is loyal to Hadi, said it had taken the decision after the president submitted his resignation letter to the parliament.

The committee condemned the “tragic events in Sanaa and the totally unacceptable demands made by the Houthis.”

It placed police and troops on alert across the four provinces, and instructed them to take orders only from the provincial governors and the fourth military region command in Aden, whose officers are Hadi loyalists.

The formerly independent south has three other provinces further east — Shabwa, Hadramawt and Mahra.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was “seriously concerned” by the developments and called on all sides “to exercise maximum restraint and maintain peace and stability,” his spokesman said in a statement.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was assessing the fast-moving events.

“We continue to support a peaceful transition. We’ve urged all parties and continue to urge all parties to abide by… the peace and national partnership agreement,” Psaki told reporters.

A senior State Department official said staffing at the US embassy, already thin after most of the diplomatic personnel were ordered to leave in September, would be further reduced.

After heavy fighting between government forces and the Houthis this week that killed at least 35 people, the UN Security Council and Yemen’s Gulf Arab neighbors had all voiced support for Hadi’s continued rule.

The Houthis swept into Sanaa last year from their stronghold in the far north, demanding a greater say in the country’s affairs, and refused to abandon the capital despite a UN-negotiated deal.

The situation escalated on Saturday when the militiamen seized top presidential aide Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution, which the Houthis oppose because it would divide Yemen into six federal regions, splitting the country into rich and poor areas.

Bin Mubarak is the secretary general of the national dialogue on a political transition following the 2012 resignation of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh after a bloody year-long uprising.

The senior politician was “driven away to an unknown location,” an official from the national dialogue secretariat told AFP on Saturday, adding that the abductors “are suspected of being Houthi militiamen.”

Mubarak’s kidnapping came just before a meeting of the national dialogue secretariat to present a draft constitution dividing Yemen into a six-region federation.

In the ensuing days pitched battles erupted, with the Houthis eventually seizing Hadi’s offices in the presidential palace, attacking his residence and surrounding the home of the prime minister Bahah.

There had been hope the crisis would be resolved after the nine-point deal was struck late on Wednesday.

“The latest agreement is a series of timed measures to implement the peace and partnership accord, which shows that Ansarullah were not planning to undermine the political process,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Reuters, referring to an accord signed in September. Ansarullah is the Houthi group’s official name.

“The agreement is satisfactory because it confirms what is most important in the partnership agreement,” he added.

The withdrawal of the gunmen, and the release of bin Mubarak could happen in the next three days if the authorities committed to implementing the agreement fully, Bukhaiti added. Bin Mubarak remains in the hands of the Houthi fighters.

Indeed, a source close to the presidency said Thursday the Houthis have “gradually” begun to withdraw from Hadi’s private residence. “Presidential security will be redeployed to their positions in the next two days,” the source told Reuters.

Speaking hours after his fighters’ display of force on Tuesday, Houthi Leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi warned Hadi that he had to implement a partnership agreement that would ensure all Yemeni factions have a fair governmental representation.

The Houthis, rebels from the north drawn from a large Shia minority that ruled a 1,000-year kingdom in Yemen until 1962, stormed into the capital in September but had mostly held back from directly challenging Hadi until last week.

They accuse the president of seeking to bypass a power-sharing deal signed when they seized Sanaa in September, and say they are also working to protect state institutions from corrupt civil servants and officers trying to plunder state property.

The Houthi-backed power-sharing deal gives the group a role in all military and civil state bodies. The Houthis, who say the accord has not been implemented fast enough, also demand changes to the divisions of regional power in a draft constitution.

(AFP, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

Yemen’s Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Paris attacks

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This still image grab taken off a propaganda video posted online on January 14, 2015, by al-Malahem Media, the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), purportedly shows one of the group's leaders, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi delivering a video message from an undisclosed location and claiming responsibility for the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's offices in Paris. AFP/HO/al-Malahem Media

This still image grab taken off a propaganda video posted online on January 14, 2015, by al-Malahem Media, the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), purportedly shows one of the group’s leaders, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi delivering a video message from an undisclosed location and claiming responsibility for the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris. AFP/HO/al-Malahem Media

by Al-Akhbar

Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo, saying it was retribution for insulting the Prophet Mohammad, according to a video posted on YouTube.

“As for the blessed battle of Paris, we, the organization of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the Messenger of God,” one of the group’s leaders, Nasser al-Ansi, said in the video titled “A message regarding the blessed battle of Paris.”

Ansi said the attack was ordered by Ayman Zawahiri, the network’s global commander.

“The leadership was the party that chose the target and plotted and financed the plan… It was following orders by our general chief Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he said.

“The heroes were chosen and they answered the call,” Ansi added.

Speaking over footage of the attack that killed 12 people, Ansi said: “Today, the mujahideen avenge their revered prophet, and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities.”

On January 7, Cherif and Said Kouachi targeted the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine known for its controversial depictions of the Prophet Mohammad. They killed 12, including a police officer. The two French brothers were killed two days later by French security forces after an extended manhunt.

On January 9, Amedy Coulibaly, a French citizen linked to the Kouachi brothers who is believed to have also killed a police officer on January 7, held people hostage in a kosher supermarket, where he killed four people before being killed himself by security forces.

Despite condemnation of the attacks by Muslims in France and across the world, the Central Council of Muslims in France said there have been more than 50 anti-Muslim assaults since the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

The incidents included 21 reports of shooting at sites frequented by Muslims and the throwing of some form of grenades, and 33 threats.

AQAP in Yemen

AQAP, which is reported to have trained at least one of the two brothers, is seen by Washington as the al-Qaeda network’s most dangerous branch.

The first known attack of al-Qaeda in Yemen dates back to 1992, when bombers hit a hotel that formerly housed US Marines in the southern city of Aden, in which two non-American citizens were killed.

AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda and is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi.

Since then, AQAP has regularly carried out deadly attacks against Yemeni security forces and, more recently, has claimed a series of bombings against Houthi militants and civilians in the capital Sanaa and central provinces.

The group recently called for its supporters to carry out attacks in France, which is part of a US-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Islamist group.

In December, AQAP’s English-language propaganda magazine “Inspire” urged jihadists to carry out “lone wolf” attacks abroad. In 2013, it named Charlie Hebdo cartoonist and editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier among its list of targets.

Charbonnier, better known as Charb, was one of 12 people killed in Paris on Wednesday when the two gunmen stormed the magazine’s offices.

Drone strikes

AQAP took advantage of the weakness of Yemen’s central government during an uprising in 2011 against now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh to seize large swathes of territory across the south.

But after a month-long offensive launched in May 2012 by Yemeni troops, most militants fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east towards the Hadramawt province.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct a longstanding drone war against the group on its territory. However, US drone attacks in the impoverished Gulf country have also killed many civilians unaffiliated with al-Qaeda.

(AFP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

At least 13 killed in failed US bid to rescue hostages

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yemen

by Reuters

A woman, a 10-year-old boy and a local Al-Qaeda leader were among at least 11 people killed alongside two Western hostages when US-led forces battled militants in a failed rescue mission in Yemen, residents said.

US special forces raided the village of Dafaar in Shabwa province, a militant stronghold in southern Yemen, shortly after midnight on Saturday, killing several members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

American journalist Luke Somers, 33, and South African teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot and killed by their captors during the raid intended to secure the hostages’ freedom, US officials said.

AQAP, formed in 2006 by the merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of the network, has for years been seen by Washington as one of the movement’s most dangerous branches.

Western governments fear an advance by Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters.

However, since Islamic State in Syria and Iraq began distributing films of its militants executing Western hostages, the focus on AQAP, which has traditionally used hostage-taking as a way to raise funds, had diminished until now.

At least one Briton and a Turkish man are still held by the group.

“AQAP and Daesh (Islamic State) are essentially the same organisation but have different methods of execution and tactics,” a senior Yemeni intelligence official said on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain this weekend.

Reports on social media feeds of known militants also said one of those killed was an AQAP commander and two members of the group. Six other people from the same southern Yemen tribe also died, the reports said, although they could not be immediately verified.

Senior US officials have said the raid was carried out by US forces alone, but both Yemen’s government and local residents said Yemeni forces also participated in the raid and engaged militants holding Somers and Korkie.

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