Al Qaeda thrives in Yemen amid weak security
10 Dec 2013 5:08 AM IST
An Al Qaeda-affiliated group attacked the defence ministry in Sanaa on Thursday, killing 56 people, in a harsh reminder that extremist groups are able to operate in heavily secured areas of the capital despite a security crackdown.
It was the worst such attack in 18 months, heightening concerns about threats emanating from a country that flanks international shipping lanes and shares a long border with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is among the most active arms of the global jihadi network and wants to topple the government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law. Analysts and officials see no early end to the violence.
‘This demonstrates the seriousness of... terrorist attacks, it demonstrates that al Qaeda obviously has planners, and executors and capabilities,’ Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said on the sidelines of a security conference in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Islamist insurgents took advantage of the chaos of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s overthrow after months of mass protests in 2011 to seize several southern cities, but were driven out in a government offensive a year later aided by US drone strikes.
But divisions within Yemen’s security services - loyal to rival Yemeni leaders, including Saleh himself - have made it all the more difficult to confront the militants. The security services also have to contend with fighting southern secessionists and a rebellion in the north that has flared up in recent weeks, killing more than 100 people.
INFILTRATION
‘If al Qaeda is indeed responsible (for the defence ministry attack), which seems likely at this point, it sends a strong message that they can strike where the government is strongest,’ the International Crisis Group’s senior Yemen expert April Longley Alley said.
‘Looking ahead, these attacks are likely to continue and even increase in frequency as long as there is no strong political settlement and the military-security services remain divided and weak,’ she said.
It was the worst such attack in 18 months, heightening concerns about threats emanating from a country that flanks international shipping lanes and shares a long border with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is among the most active arms of the global jihadi network and wants to topple the government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law. Analysts and officials see no early end to the violence.
‘This demonstrates the seriousness of... terrorist attacks, it demonstrates that al Qaeda obviously has planners, and executors and capabilities,’ Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said on the sidelines of a security conference in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Islamist insurgents took advantage of the chaos of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s overthrow after months of mass protests in 2011 to seize several southern cities, but were driven out in a government offensive a year later aided by US drone strikes.
But divisions within Yemen’s security services - loyal to rival Yemeni leaders, including Saleh himself - have made it all the more difficult to confront the militants. The security services also have to contend with fighting southern secessionists and a rebellion in the north that has flared up in recent weeks, killing more than 100 people.
INFILTRATION
‘If al Qaeda is indeed responsible (for the defence ministry attack), which seems likely at this point, it sends a strong message that they can strike where the government is strongest,’ the International Crisis Group’s senior Yemen expert April Longley Alley said.
‘Looking ahead, these attacks are likely to continue and even increase in frequency as long as there is no strong political settlement and the military-security services remain divided and weak,’ she said.
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