YEMEN - Four Yemeni policemen were killed and a fifth was injured in an ambush in Amain district of Abyan province in the south of Yemen on July 28.
According to a security source, more than 10 attackers set an ambush for a police vehicle in Abyan where they fired an RPG and other weapons at the police vehicle.
The source said that the attackers took the group by surprise, as four of them were sleeping in the vehicle stationed in its usual position.
Two official websites published contradicting stories over the arrests of the jihadists accused of killing the four and wounding a fifth.
The 26.sep.net website, the official website of the military forces, cited an official source on July 30 that denied the arrest of the perpetrators of the attack. The source said that the security authorities have not yet arrested the criminals, though they have been tracking them down.
However, Almotamar.net website, the mouthpiece of the Yemeni ruling party, had cited a security source on July 29 saying that the security authorities in Marib province had arrested what it called some jihadists involved in the killing of the four policemen in Amain district of Abyan province. The website went further to say that the security authorities tracked down the vehicle that the criminals used in their getaway from Abyan to Marib, and found two others dead inside the vehicle. It also said that the two dead were killed during the firefight with the four policemen.
In related news, eight people were killed and 20 others wounded in confrontations between the security forces and insurgents affiliated to Tariq al-Fadhli, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, who recently announced his support for the Yemeni Southern Movement. Three northern citizens were murdered and a fourth wounded in Habil Jabr district of Lahj province earlier in the month by insurgents affiliated to the southern movement. Also, a Northern citizen was found hanged in the same province a few days after the other three were killed.
The Spokesperson of the General People’s Conference ruling party, Tariq al-Shami, accused Tariq al-Fadhli, other veterans of the war in Afghanistan, as well as some elements of the so-called southern movement of being behind sabotage acts and attacks that targeted policemen and citizens in Abyan province.
The Supreme Security Committee, chaired by the Vice President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi, held a meeting on July 28 to discuss the security situations in Abyan and Sa’adah provinces in light of the latest attacks against policemen, soldiers, and civilians in the two provinces. The Committee announced the adoption of a number of measures for stabilizing the situations and curbing what it called saboteurs, criminals, and outlaws. Nevertheless, the committee did not mention what measures would be adopted.
The NewsYemen website cited Nasser al-Fadhli, brother of Tariq al-Fadhli, saying that his brother has received a warning to leave the country within three days or face the consequences. He also said that his brother was warned to stop raising the flag of the former south Yemen. Nasser al-Fadhli told NewsYemen that his brother informed the person that warned him to leave the country instead, that he would never leave Yemen, and that he would continue struggling until he became a martyr.
Tariq al-Fadhli is one of the commanders of the so-called Arab Afghan groups that took part in jihadist battles in Afghanistan. He announced his joining of the southern movement last month.
Along the same lines, 58 militants were detained in a major offensive undertaken by Yemeni security forces from March 28 to April 15. The operation focused on the town of Ja’ar, the capital of Abyan province, in the south of the country. The hunt for the militants ended in the town of Ja’ar after security forces tracked them down from the mountain regions, including Hutat, 18-30 kilometers outside of Ja’ar. Clashes erupted in Ja’ar, northeast of the port city of Aden, after police conducted a search operation for wanted members of several jihadist groups, mainly focusing on the Aden Abyan army affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda has also announced its support of the southern movement, to liberate what it called the south of Yemen from oppressors, and to establish an Islamic state.
The leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Abo Basir Naser al-Wahishi announced al-Qaeda’s support for the Yemeni southern movement that opposes President Saleh.
Al-Wahaishi, in a recorded statement published on the internet last May, said that what has been happening in Lahj, Abyan, and Dhalea’ provinces was unjustified and cannot be accepted by any person - which made it imperative that al-Qaeda support the people of the south.
In his statement entitled ‘to our people in the south’ he said, “What you have been calling for is your right that was guaranteed to you by your religion, therefore, oppression should not be practiced under the pretext of protecting unity.”
He added that al-Qaeda agrees with what the southern movement has been practicing to curb oppression being practiced against them and against others, and agrees on their acts of combating the regime and defending themselves.
However, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula also reminded the people of south Yemen that they had experienced all matters, adding that they had experienced the communist regime, and stressing that there would be no justice or freedom unless under the shade of Islam. This came after the joining of Tariq al-Fadhli, a leading figure of the Islamic group of al-Qaeda.
An al-Qaeda expert said that this recording was no surprise after the announcement of al-Fadhli joining the southern movement. He said that this was an attempt from al-Fadhli to seek shelter with the remaining cells of al-Qaeda. He said that this would give al-Qaeda the justification to continue its terrorist attacks in the country and reorganize itself after the great losses they have experienced due to frequent arrests and battles lost to security forces.
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