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August 09, 2012
By Abu Bakr al-Yamani in Sanaa
On July 28th, Ali Majed al-Thahab
was outside his home in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa when unidentified men
asked him to deliver a gift to his father, a well-known tribal sheikh.
However, when Ali entered the
house, the parcel exploded, killing him instantly.
He was only 12 years old.
"Al-Qaeda was behind the
killing of my son," Sheikh Majed Ahmed Nasser al-Thahab told Al-Bayda
Press. "It is a heartless, merciless terrorist organisation."
The sheikh said he increased
security at his residence after receiving threats from al-Qaeda in response to
his tough positions against the group earlier this year.
Led by the sheikh's cousin, Tariq
al-Thahab, al-Qaeda terrorists took control of the city of Radaa, Bayda
province, in January 2012. They withdrew 10 days later after tribal mediators,
who had the support of Sheikh Majed, persuaded the group to vacate.
Following the attack, many Yemenis
expressed indignation and resentment over what they described as a
"criminal act".
"We condemn all crimes, but
they are more heinous when the victims are children," said Mustafa
Mohammed, a 43-year-old government employee who attended the child's funeral.
"What fault did they commit?"
Al-Qaeda retaliates against tribal
sheikhs
Terrorism analysts said al-Qaeda's
retaliatory attacks do not distinguish between their targets and innocent
bystanders, regardless of whether women or children are among them.
"Al-Qaeda does not forget its
opponents," said Saeed al-Jamhi, head of Al-Jamhi Centre for Studies and
Research. "It targeted Sheikh Majed using a parcel bomb in retaliation for
his positions. Al-Qaeda does not forego taking revenge upon its many enemies,
including tribesmen and government, army and security officials."
"Targeting innocent people is
condemnable, and using a child to deliver a parcel bomb to his father put the
life of the child at great risk, and that risk was realised," al-Jamhi
said.
Similarly, Abdel Salam Mohammed,
head of the Abaad Studies Centre, said, "Al-Qaeda does not care about
victims. Giving the parcel to the child opened the possibility that the child
would try to open it himself before handing it to his father."
Mohammed said al-Qaeda's targeting
of Sheikh al-Thahab stems from past disputes that arose between the sheikh and
the organisation's late leader, Tariq al-Thahab, during the conflict with
al-Qaeda in Radaa.
Al-Qaeda failed twice
Observers said the use of innocent
children in reprisals indicates the organisation is in decline.
Strategic affairs researcher Saeed
Abdul Momin said that by targeting prominent figures, al-Qaeda is trying once
again to prove it still exists.
"Al-Qaeda failed twice in its
latest attempt," he said. "They killed a child for no fault of his
own other than being an innocent child who was deceived by the attractive
appearance of the parcel and possibly the deceptive appearance of those who
handed it to him, and it also failed in reaching its goal."
"The danger is that al-Qaeda
may be looking for easy targets guaranteed to intimidate its opponents, so that
if they do not succeed in killing the opponent himself they have a chance of
striking one of his relatives," Abdul Momin said.
"This indicates that the
organisation shifted to a new modus operandi to restore some of the lustre of its
reputation and the victories it achieved under the previous regime [in
Yemen]," he added. "This line of thinking is an indication of the
decline the organisation has fallen into."
