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| Arabia |
| Yemen says strikes house of al-Qaeda leader |
| 2010-01-21 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen has launched an air strike on the house of a leading al-Qaeda figure in Maarib province, east of the capital Sanaa, a security official said on Wednesday, but there was no immediate word on casualties. Ayed al-Shabwani was one of the six members of al-Qaeda the central government said had died in an air strike last week, which the militant group later denied in a statement. The strike comes less than a week after Yemen said it killed six suspected leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Saada province, north of the capital, including Shabwani. AQAP denied that anyone was killed in the attack on three 4X4 vehicles in a remote desert area of the province, saying instead that some of its members had been wounded. The government said Qassem al-Rimi, the military leader of AQAP, was among those who died in the missile attack. It also said Shabwani, Ammar al-Waili, Saleh al-Tais, Egyptian Ibrahim Mohammed Saleh al-Banna and an unidentified sixth person were also killed. Rimi was among 23 people who had made a daring escape from a state security prison in Sanaa in February 2006 that left the Yemeni government red-faced, and he was on a list of 152 wanted suspects. Western powers and neighboring Saudi Arabia worry Yemen could turn into a failed state, and fear al-Qaeda could exploit the ensuing chaos to strengthen its foothold in the poorest Arab state and turn it into a launchpad for further attacks. Yemen is also fighting a northern Shiite insurgency and faces separatist sentiment in the south. Yemen gained a reputation as an al-Qaeda haven after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, and came under the spotlight after crackdowns on the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan raised fears Yemen was becoming a training and recruiting center for militants. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 See also WMF > YEMEN IS AFGHANISTAN OR HAITI IN THE RED SEA/GULF OF OMAN, A PERENNIALLY POOR COUNTRY WITH WEAK INEFFECTIVE GOVT BUT STRONG TRIBAL ALLIANCES AND ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ISLAM. * SAME > "YEMEN POST" MEDIA: YEMEN FORMALLY ASKS RUSSIA AND CHINA FOR ECONOMIC DIRECT INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE IN LIEU OF FOREIGN MIL INTERVENTION IN SUPPORT OF THEIR FIGHT AGZ AL QAEDA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-21 23:16 |