Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took credit in an internet statement Friday for a pair of suicide attacks that targeted South Koreans in Yemen.A teen-aged suicide bomber killed four South Korean tourists in Shibam, Hadramout on March 15. A second terror attack three days later in Sana’a targeted a convoy of family members and South Korean investigators. The motorcade had left a military camp and was traveling along a highway when a suicide bomber detonated his device between two of the cars. There were no injuries to the passengers.
According to al Tajamo Weekly, the terrorist obtained information on the route and schedule of the delegation from Yemen’s security forces who were aware of the attack twelve hours in advance.
The internet statement said the attacks were an effort to “expel the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula” and were in retribution for the killing of Hamza al Qaiti by security forces after a suicide bombing in Sayoun last August. As additional rationale, the group cited South Korea’s “alliance with Crusader forces” in Iraq and Afghanistan, the corrupting influence of tourism and the spread of Christianity. The statement rejected the concept of a covenant of protection for visitors.
At a special parliamentary session, opposition and majority members of parliament alleged the Yemeni security forces are infiltrated by al Qaeda. MPs also accused the Yemeni government of deploying al Qaeda for political purposes. Independent MP Sakhr Al Wajih said the government itself was involved in many of the terrorist acts which took place over the last years. Parliament called for the disclosure of the ambiguous relationship between Yemeni authorities and al Qaeda. A ranking member of the ruling party said the relationship between the government and al Qaeda had harmed the country. Another MP said that it was clear that al Qaeda had penetrated the Yemeni security forces.
Six “al Qaeda” members were arrested following the attacks. Authorities said they were planning an additional ten suicide attacks on foreign interests, oil infrastructure, and government facilities. Another eight of 22 terrorists present at a terror camp in Shabwa were arrested.
The Shibam bomber had trained in Somalia, authorities said. Yemen and Somalia are separated by the narrow Bab al Mendab strait, which serves as a conduit for weapons, jihadists and contraband from Yemen to the Horn of Africa and for the thousands of refugees who flee Somalia annually. Many Yemenis have fought in Somalia with the Islamic Courts Union, and tens of thousands of Somalis have sought refuge in Yemen since 2005.
Security forces also arrested four al Qaeda members at the Darwa Center in Sana’a in connection with the attacks including a Saudi national, Abu Bakr al Dosi. The Darwa Center denied reports by the newspaper 26 September, the mouthpiece of the military, that the Shibam bomber had attended the center.
26 September also reported the arrest of 10 al Qaeda suspects who had volunteered for jihad in Afghanistan and Somalia, but were deceived by al Qaeda and brought instead to Yemen’s Marib governorate for training and indoctrination for suicide attacks. Security sources said that al Qaeda had recruited numerous young men under 18 to carry out attacks in the country..more..http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/03/yemens_three_terror.php
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