Raiders Of The Lost Terrorists

June 27, 2012

Hundreds of known al Qaeda members in Yemen have sort of disappeared. Many more are accounted for, as dead or captured. But it’s the unaccounted ones that have people worried. Rumors abound, such as those claiming some of the missing terrorists have fled east into Oman or north into Saudi Arabia. Both countries have announced that they are on the lookout for any al Qaeda men coming their way. Most, it is believed, have fled to sanctuary in the eastern provinces of Shabwa, Marib and Hadramout where separatist tribes are willing to hide the terrorists in remote villages. It’s going to be quite a military and diplomatic chore to get at these remaining terrorists.

The al Qaeda terrorist network has fallen apart in the south with the loss of the terrorist controlled towns. This has resulted in several terror attacks being detected by soldiers and aborted. More terrorist operatives (who recruit, train, equip and deploy suicide bombers) have been captured.

Al Qaeda left behind thousands of landmines when they fled towns like Zinjibar and Jaar. Soldiers have found and removed over 3,000 of those mines so far, but meanwhile several hundred civilians have been killed or wounded by the mines.

June 26, 2012: The last al Qaeda-held stronghold, the southeastern town of Azzan, has been captured by the army. The surviving al Qaeda men fled into the countryside over the previous week.

Five al Qaeda members escaped a jail in the port city of Hudayda. Four of the five are senior operatives and the government is investigating the possibility of jail staff being bribed.

June 24, 2012: The defeat of al Qaeda has persuaded rebellious tribes to abandon their blockade of the coastal oil refinery at Maarib. For the first time in over a year, oil can now resume moving through the pipeline to Maarib and be refined into various products (diesel, kerosene, etc). This is expected to cut the electricity blackouts in the capital, which now only gets about two hours of power a day.

June 23, 2012: Troops caught some tribal rebels attempting to destroy a long-distance power line. The gun battle left two soldiers and three rebels dead.

June 18, 2012: In the south, an al Qaeda suicide bomber, pretending to be a beggar, killed one of the generals who led the successful campaign against al Qaeda.