Abducted envoy to be freed ‘soon’

By RIYADH: GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN

Apr 2, 2012

A Saudi diplomat who was kidnapped from the Yemeni port city of Aden last Wednesday, is expected to be released soon after hectic negotiations with his abductors yesterday, according to Saudi and Yemeni official sources.

Abdullah Al-Khalidi is being held captive in a hostile mountainous area between the Aden and Lahj provinces in Yemen, said the local Saudi Ambassador Ali Al-Hamdan.

 “The Saudi and Yemeni officials are doing their best to secure the release,” said Al-Hamdan in a statement. “Initially, it was difficult to contact abductors because of the hostile nature of the mountainous areas where the diplomat was taken,” he added.

However, the officials have managed to contact the captors and now negotiations are ongoing, he added. He, however, voiced concerns about the diplomat’s health and safety. The area where Al-Khalidi is reportedly being held hostage is notoriously dangerous, especially after at least 23 troops were killed and 11 others wounded when militants raided and seized a strategic checkpoint in Lahj province yesterday.

This dangerous geography of Yemen helps abductors to hide themselves safely. Al-Khalidi is believed to have been taken to one of these mountainous regions.

However, the daily Yemen Post claimed the diplomat was in good health. The paper was quoting Sheikh Sultan Al-Bakiri, chairman of the tribal mediation committee and Sheikh of Al-Bakiri tribe, one of the Qahtan tribes in the Yemeni Mareb governorate.

Al-Bakiri added the kidnappers have made a big mistake. He said Al-Khalidi was well known and liked throughout his five-year tenure in Aden.

Al-Bakiri said his tribe travelled a long way to negotiate with the kidnappers. “We call on all the sheikhs of Yemen and its tribes to follow in our footsteps by condemning this operation in word and deed,” said Al-Bakiri.

 “They must reject this bad phenomenon that is harming all Yemenis in the country and abroad,” said Al-Bakiri. “Serving the Kingdom and its people is an honor for my tribe,” he has been quoted in the report as saying.

Al-Hamdan said: “The embassy is in constant contact with the Yemeni authorities and is working to release the high-ranking diplomat safely.”

He refused to disclose further details but expressed optimism that a peaceful solution could be reached that would eventually help to secure the diplomat’s release.

Sources said the cause of Al-Khaladi’s abduction was not political or terror linked. They said it was because of a dispute that arose from the diplomat’s proposed marriage that is believed to have angered the bride’s family.

The abduction of foreign diplomats and workers is becoming a routine affair in Yemen. Only a few days ago, a Swiss language teacher was abducted by armed men in the Red city of Al-Hodieda. The English language teacher was moved to the southeastern province of Shabwa.

The Swiss government confirmed the kidnapping and said it was liaising with the Yemeni authorities in order to negotiate a safe release of the Swiss hostage. Kidnapping incidents have increased in the last few years in Yemen, with tribesmen resorting to abducting foreigners to force the government to release their imprisoned relatives, or demand a ransom.

Earlier the year, a UN Norwegian worker was snatched by tribesmen from the central province of Marib about two blocks away from the presidential palace in the Yemeni capital of Sana. In February this year, three Saudi nationals were also abducted at gunpoint. They were later released after the Saudi Embassy in Sanaa worked day and night to save them.

15 Yemeni Soldiers Executed by Al-Qaida Militants in Southern Yemen

April 2, 2012

Militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch on Sunday shot dead 15 army soldiers held captives during Saturday's fighting in the southern province of Lahj, a military official told Xinhua.

A total of 15 army soldiers from the 119th Brigade who were held captives by the al-Qaida militants during Saturday's battles were killed in the desert between Lahj and Abyan provinces by the terrorist group members, the local military official said on condition of anonymity.

"A number of soldiers are still missing from Saturday's attack that targeted an army base in al-Mallah town in the southern province of Lahj, close to the insurgents-controlled city of Jaar in Abyan. Searching for the missing troops is underway," the official said.

Witnesses confirmed to Xinhua that many dead bodies of the army soldiers were found scattered in different places in the suburbs of Lahj province following the fierce fighting.

The al-Qaida spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

On Saturday, up to 20 al-Qaida militants stormed an army barrack of the 201st Mechanized Army Brigade in Lahj province, killing at least 20 soldiers, according to an army officer.

The army troops fought back and killed at least eight militants and injured dozens of others from both sides, the officer added.

A day after the fighting, a group of unidentified gunmen believed to be from the al-Qaida militants raided a military checkpoint of the security forces in the Shibam district in southeastern Hadramout province, killing at least seven soldiers at the scene, a security official said.

The Yemeni army and security forces have recently been attacked by the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the restive southern regions. Hundreds of government troops were either killed or injured during deadly suicide bombings and fierce battles with al-Qaida insurgents in the province of Abyan during the past two months.

Taking advantage of the one-year-long political conflicts, the resurgent AQAP, locally known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), has taken control of several cities and swathes across the country's restive southern provinces.

AQAP attacks Central Prison in Aden

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 1, 2012- Gunmen believed to be suspected Al-Qaeda militants assaulted on Sunday evening the Central Prison in Yemen's southern port of Aden.

Sources reported that the militants attacked the prison in an attempt to free militants held by Yemeni authorities in the province.

"Fierce fighting between government troops and militants took place," a resident in Aden told Bikyamasr.com.

The incident is considered the second within a week conducted by the terror fighters in Aden.

Earlier this afternoon, armed men attacked a jewelry store, in Al-Sheikh Othman district of Aden wounding at least three people. Attackers ran away empty handed after being resisted by the store's owner and his workers.  No one claims its responsibility of the attack.

Huge explosion hit First Armored Division headquarters

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A- April 1, 2012- A huge explosion was heard in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a on Sunday evening near Change Square where thousands of protesters have been demonstrating for more than a year.

Witnesses said that black smoke was seen coming from the First Armored Division headquarters that belonging to defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

No more details were reported.

Al Qaeda is exploiting Yemen military split-minister

* Militant raid is the second on military outposts in two days

* Officials blame al Qaeda for the attacks

By Mohammed Mukhashaf and Mohammed Ghobari

ADEN/SANAA, April 1 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda is successfully exploiting splits within Yemen's armed forces, Defence Minister Mohammad Naser Ahmed warned on Sunday as suspected Islamist militants killed seven soldiers in the second such attack in two days.

The Yemeni military split last year during protests against the 33-year rule of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with some forces remaining loyal and others joining the opposition.

Briefing parliament on raids that have killed nearly 200 soldiers since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February, Ahmed said that jostling for power and logistical difficulties were helping the militants.

"The army is divided," he said. "Two legitimacies are in a struggle and we are caught between them. Each side is trying to prevail against the other and al Qaeda is exploiting all of this."

Officials have blamed the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militant group that controls large swathes of territory in southern Yemen, for the recent attacks.

On Sunday the Defence Ministry's September 26 news portal said that "seven soldiers were martyred in a treacherous terrorist attack on their outpost" near the city of Shibam, in the southern Hadramout province.

Ahmed said that roads were cut and Yemen's sole military transport plane had been sabotaged on an air base recently, making it difficult to send arms to soldiers fighting al Qaeda.

But he said his ministry had devised a plan to overcome the army's divisions, which he said he hoped to implement within two weeks. He gave no details of the plan but said he would tender his resignation if it was not implemented.

The United States and oil giant Saudi Arabia engineered the transfer of power from Saleh to Hadi, whose main task is to restore stability so that the militants have fewer opportunities to exploit the central government's weakness.

ATTACK UNDER DARKNESS

As in previous attacks, the militants struck before dawn on Sunday under the cover of darkness.

Almotamar, an online website run by Saleh's General People's Congress party, quoted security sources as saying that the militants arrived at the Jojeh checkpoint in one vehicle and quickly killed the seven soldiers.

"The attack bears the fingerprints of al Qaeda," it quoted a security source as saying, without giving further details.

The attack appeared to mirror Saturday's, in which militants raided a military checkpoint in the southern Abyan province, killing at least 20 soldiers, according to a senior military official.

Yemen's interior ministry put the death toll at 13 soldiers, while Ansar al-Sharia, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said about 30 soldiers had died and that it had seized military hardware.

A local official in Abyan said on Sunday that a Yemeni warplane had destroyed a tank captured by the militants on Saturday and killed an unknown number of gunmen.

The Yemeni army has also surrounded the area around the checkpoint, the official added. Dozens of people have fled nearby villages, fearing artillery or other exchanges of fire in any further fighting.

Ansar al-Sharia has stepped up its attacks since Hadi's inauguration, when he vowed to fight the militants. Hours after he was sworn in, a suicide attack at a military base killed 26 people.

In their deadliest attack yet, militants killed at least 110 soldiers and took dozens hostage on March 4 in the Abyan provincial capital, Zinjibar.

The government has responded with air strikes on suspected Islamist hideouts, and the United States has repeatedly used its drones to attack militants, who have seized several southern towns over the past year.

Potential attacks by AQAP in Sana'a

By Fatik al-Rodaini

April 1, 2012

SANA'A: Informed security and military officials in the Yemen's capital Sana'a revealed on Sunday they believe al-Qaeda had sneaked armed militants into the heart of the capital as it was planning to attack security leaders and facilities in Sana'a.

The sources told Bikyamasr.com that the Islamists are believed to be preparing for a series of attacks on local representatives and security facilities in the province as a response to attacks led by armed forces against their Yemeni and American air forces killing and wounding scores of them.

 Yemen Interior Ministry warned on its website against a potential terrorist attacks would target vital economic installations in Yemen's capital, Sana'a.

The Ministry said that at least 300 AQAP elements were deployed in Azzan town, Shabwa province, amongst whom were Ibrahim Al-Banaa, an Egyptian national, Qassem Al-Raimi, the military leader, and Shaker Hamel, who is described as the most dangerous elements of the Al-Qaeda. The AQAP elements  are believed to be preparing for a series of attacks on local representatives and security facilities in the province. Moreover, the group is said to be planning a further expansion of its Islamic Emirate by seizing Mukallah, the regional capital of Hadhramout.

Earlier this day, at least seven Yemeni soldiers were killed, and others wounded , some of them in critical condition in an attack believed to be conducted by Ansar Al-Sharea, a militant group with link to Al-Qaeda in Yemen's southern province of Hadhramout, a day after clashes with extremist fighters in which at least 30 troops were killed.

Yemen's Defense Military blamed on al-Qaeda militants.

The attack was the latest in a series that officials have blamed on an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group that controls swathes of territory in southern Yemen.

The group, Ansar al-Sharia, said it had killed about 30 Yemeni troops in an assault on a military checkpoint in the southern province of Abyan, one of several where it controls territory.

The details of its claim could not be verified.

The group has escalated its attacks on the military since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February vowing to fight militants.

 A suicide attack at a military base killed 26 people hours after he was sworn in.

The Yemeni military launched several airstrikes in southern Yemen following the killing of some 110 soldiers in Abyan in early March, while US government officials have confirmed that US drones targeted suspected al-Qaeda fighters in recent days.