Oman to investigate reports of Al Qaida infiltration

Security forces prepared to deter any incursion threat, official says

June 27, 2012

    Gulf News

Muscat: Oman’s security agencies are investigating reports of a possible infiltration by elements of Al Qaida fleeing Yemeni forces in ongoing battles in the Shabwa region of the country, the Arabic daily Oman quoted a top foreign ministry official as saying.

Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Al Bu Saidi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the newspaper that Omani security forces were fully prepared to deter any incursion threat along its borders with neighbouring Yemen. The official added that reports of an infiltration by Al Qaida elements were not fully confirmed as yet, but were nevertheless being investigated by military authorities.

The newspaper cited media reports purporting that Al Qaida fighters were attempting to sneak across the common border between the two countries in the face of an ongoing onslaught by Yemeni forces. It follows the crushing of the so-called ‘Emirate of Azzan’ established by the terrorist organisation in the Shabwa governorate of Yemen. Yemeni forces had recently overrun Azzan, a known Al Qaida bastion in Shabwa, forcing insurgent elements to flee, the paper said.

Sayyid Badr described the issue as a “top security matter and a highly sensitive issue” that was being handled in the context of the “various developments and threats being witnessed by the region and the world at large”.