Tag Archives: Yemen

Explosions Rock Yemen, Killing 15

Three explosions hit Yemen’s port city of Aden on Tuesday, killing 15 people. One rocket hit a hotel housing exiled Yemeni officials, and the other two attacks struck locations used by troops from the United Arab Emirates. Authorities state no government officials have been hurt.

At this time it is not clear who the victims were.

Officials originally blamed Yemen’s Shiite rebels for the attack, but a new Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for the attacks. The terrorist group used Twitter to claim the attack, posting photos of the suicide bombers and the aftermath of the bombing. More chaos is expected to ensue now that the Islamic State is involved with Yemen’s months-long civil war.

Military official, Major General Ahmed Sayf stated that the attacks were deployed with car bombs.

Yemen is currently in the middle of a civil war where Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the former president are fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government as well as local militias, Sunni extremists, and southern separatists. The war in Yemen began in March of this year and so far, more than 4,000 people have been killed. The country is also on the brink of famine.

131 Yemeni Civilians Killed in Saudi-led Airstrike

Medical officers reported 131 civilians were killed in a Saudi-led airstrike that hit a wedding party, in what is reported to be the single deadliest incident since the start of Yemen’s civil war.

Yemeni medical officials stated at least 80 women were killed in the attack. The Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition supposedly struck the wedding party by accident. The attack struck a village near the town of Mokha. The region is largely populated by livestock traders and fishermen. It is reported that there is no heavy military presence in the area.

“They struck a wedding, there were only civilians there and most of them died because the Mokha hospital is closed because of supply — no drugs, no fuel, no electricity, no nothing, so the staff left,” said Hassan Boucenine, of the Geneva-based Doctors without Borders. The provincial capital of Taiz could not be used due to ongoing fighting.

Officials of the Saudi-led coalition could not be reached immediately for a comment.

The U.N. reports at least 2,355 civilians have been killed since the violence started in March. The main fight is between forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to Zaidi Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced Hadi out of the capital of Sanaa in February.

Dozens Killed in Yemen Mosque Suicide Bomb Attack; ISIS Claims Responsibility

Dozens have been killed and more have been injured in a bombing at a crowded mosque on Thursday, and officials expect the death and injury tolls to rise.

The Balili mosque, located in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, was hosting several worshippers who were saying prayers to mark the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha at the time of the two explosions. Officials reported that the suicide bomber housed a bomb in his shoe, which he detonated, and then ran into the middle of the crowd to detonate the second bomb. Security also found two other devices in the bathroom that had not detonated.

“We found a shoe bomb and explosives hidden in underwear and abandoned in the toilet,” said Adnane Khaled, the head of security at the mosque.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter. The mosque is located in an area controlled by Shiite rebels, which ISIS, a Sunni militant group, views as heretics. This attack is the sixth time in three months that the mosque has been a target.

The attack comes two days after Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi returned from exile. He had fled the country in March when Houthi rebels made gains.

The United Nations estimates that thousands of civilians have been killed in Yemen since March. The number varies between 2,200 and 5,000.

Yemeni Mosque Bombing Kills 20

A suicide bomber who was claimed by ISIS and a car bomb have killed 20 people in Yemen’s capital city.

The suicide bomber detonated at the mosque in Sanaa during the evening call to prayer.  The car bomb exploded outside the entrance of the mosque as the victims of the first bombing were being carried outside to emergency personnel.

A message on social media from ISIS claimed the attacks.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since a rebel group loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh captured the capital city.  The rebels have been the subject of Saudi Arabian led and U.S. backed air strikes.

The violence is also starting to be aimed at relief workers and those trying to help the victimized civilian population.

Two Red Cross members were gunned down in the Yemeni province of Amran by an attacker on Wednesday.

“Two of our colleagues were shot and killed in their car …as they were traveling back from Saada to Sanaa,” spokesman Adnan Hizam said from the Yemeni capital.

The Red Cross had stopped work in the southern city of Aden after gunmen stormed their offices.

Al-Qaeda Second In Command Killed

The number two man in the al-Qaeda power structure has reportedly been killed in a drone strike in Yemen.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi was called the “leading light” of the terrorist organization and one terrorism analyst told CNN the death is “the biggest blow against al-Qaeda since the death of bin Laden.”

“[Al-Wuhayshi] was responsible for the deaths of innocent Yemenis and Westerners, including Americans,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.

“While AQAP, al Qaeda and their affiliates will remain persistent in their efforts to threaten the United States, our partners and our interests, (al-Wuhayshi’s) death removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating those groups.”

Al-Wuhayshi was notorious for saying that Al-Qaeda needed to “eliminate the cross and the bearer of the cross is America!”

“Nasser al-Wuhayshi was a major global figure among jihadists, even supporters of al-Qaeda’s rival Islamic State viewed Wuhayshi with respect,” Islamic groups analyst Murad Batal al-Shishani said to the Christian Post.

“As well as creating AQAP itself, Wuhayshi also played a major role in forming the AQAP off-shoot, Ansar al-Sharia, in 2011, to appeal to disaffected youth in Yemen at the time of the Arab Spring. AQAP’s leader cultivated good relations with local tribes, which helped his group advance in various places in the south of the country.”

Unfortunately, the man who is replacing al-Wuhayshi is considering a formidable opponent.

“Qasm al-Rimi was considered the brains of the operation,” CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. “For more than a decade, he’s really been at the helm of the military side of things for AQAP but also planning their large international operations.”

Top Cleric of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda Branch Killed

A terrorist leader with a $5 million bounty on his head has been killed in Yemen.

Yemen’s Al-Qaeda branch posted a statement saying that Ibrahim al-Rubaish was killed along with other terrorists in a Sunday night drone strike.  The statement did not say where the strike that killed the terrorist leader took place.

Al-Rubaish once was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay but had been released in 2006.  He joined Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch and was considered the main theological advisor to the group.  His writings and sermons were among the most viewed in terrorist publications.

If the drone attack is verified, it will be the first drone strike since the country devolved into war when Islamic terrorists backed by Iran advanced into the nation.  Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of airstrikes against the terrorist’s advances.

Al-Qaeda is a rival of the advancing terrorist group and has launched their own assaults to stop the advanced of the Iranian-backed group.  U.S. intelligence sources say that as Al-Qaeda is forced to focus on stopping the terrorist advance, they have less resources and time to plot against Western interests in the region.

ISIS Terrorists Kill At Least 100 In Mosque Attacks

ISIS terrorists are starting a campaign to destabilize Yemen and overtake the government by launching twin mosque attacks that killed 46 during Friday prayers.

Witnesses say that at least four terrorists blew themselves up in the mosques used by the Shia Muslim Houthis.  The attacks also left hundreds injured.

The terrorists also attacked the residents where the country’s former president has been living since the Houthis ousted him.

Local officials confirmed 46 dead but said that they also have many unaccounted for in the attacks.  Rebel TV stations say that hospitals have reported 137 dead and 345 people have been injured.

Police reportedly stopped a fifth bomber attack on another mosque.

The attack is the first major terrorist action by ISIS in Yemen.

Yemen’s Fall Took U.S. Intelligence By Surprise

The top counterterrorism official for the White House admitted Thursday that the overthrow of the Yemeni government by Islamic extremists had taken U.S. intelligence services by surprise.

National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Yemeni army’s response to the advancing rebels was similar to Iraqi forces who simply laid down arms before ISIS last summer.

“As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa [Yemen’s capital] took place,” Rasmussen said, “they weren’t opposed in many places. … The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected.”

The terrorists overran the government last September, deposing the U.S. backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The terrorists are providing a safe haven in Yemen for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who carried out the terrorist attacks in Paris on magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Kosher market.

The U.S., Britain and France have closed their embassies in the country and Britain & France have told their citizens to immediately leave Yemen.

Terrorists Kill 33 In Yemen

Al Qaeda killed at least 33 people on Monday during an attack on a city in central Yemen.

The terrorists seized a central Yemeni city as they’ve launched an offensive against the Shi’ite Muslim Houthis that are in control of the Yemeni capital.  The country is considered a prize for the terrorist group because it shares a border with Saudi Arabia.

Al Qaeda marched into al-Odayn, a city of 200,000, and raised their flag over the city’s local government offices.  Witnesses say the invasion took only a few minutes and that local officials gave no resistance to the terrorist group.

“They came in at midday, invaded the town, chanting Allahu Akbar (God is Greater) and seized the government compound unopposed,” the witness said.

The Houthi forces have used the capital as a base to spread out across the nation in an attempt to drive the terrorists out of the city.

Yemeni Christian Woman Burned Alive For Her Faith

A woman died two weeks after suffering burns all over her body in an act of sabotage by Islamists in her village.

A woman named Nazeera went into her kitchen to cook breakfast when the room suddenly burst into flames.  Her four children watched as she burned alive on the floor of their home until her husband Saeed was able to put out the flames and rush her to a hospital.

Nazeera suffered third degree burns all over her body.  Doctors provided treatment to minimize her pain but she suffered for two weeks before she died.

When Saeed returned home from his wife’s bedside, a relative told him his wife’s death was no accident.

The family’s Muslim neighbors, who were furious the family has accepted Christs a few years ago, had been looking for a way to kill the family in a way that appeared to be an accident.  The neighbors bragged to the Islamic relative of the family that they replaced the family’s cooking oil with a form of gasoline so it would explode when she tried to cook.

Saeed and his children are now in another country under new names.  They had obtained papers to leave the country two days before the explosion.