Terrorism in Yemen
In its war on terrorism in Yemen, the
Attacks on civilian targets
1992 Aden hotel bombings
Limburg attack
In October 2002, near the port of
Civil Aviation, Meteorological Authority and helicopter attacks
On 3 November 2002 there was an attack on a helicopter carrying
Jibla hospital
On December 30, 2002, a suspected Islamic
Al-Salem letter threats
Jews in Yemen reportedly fled their homes due to threats from Muslim extremists. Al-Qaeda members sent letters to 45 Jews living in al-Salem (near Sana'a) on January 19, 2007, accusing them of involvement in an "international Zionist conspiracy". The Jewish community sent a complaint to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and temporarily moved to a hotel near Sana'a. The Yemeni government promised to protect their homes and reassured them that they could return.[8][9]
US Embassy
On September 17, 2008, Al-Qaeda militants attacked the US Embassy in
Attacks on tourists
A suicide bomber killed eight Spanish tourists and their two Yemeni drivers in
UAE-run secret prisons
In the name of punishment, Yemenis are tortured at the hands of Houthis and Saudi Arabia-led military. According to a report published by the Associated Press, the United Arab Emirates runs a network of secret prisons across southern Yemen, where several hundreds of Yemenis on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants are held.[10]
According to former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials, there are at least 18 lock-ups hidden away in military bases, air and seaports, the basements of private villas and even a nightclub. Prisoners are held without any charges, with the Yemeni government having no control over these UAE-run prisons.[11]
Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden is one such prison, where detainees are tortured and sexually assaulted by the UAE officers. Prisoners are electrocuted by their genitals and rocks are hung from their testicles. They are also sexually violated with wooden and steel poles. In March 2018, Emirati officers blind-folded and handcuffed all the detainees of Beir Ahmed prison and made them stand under the sun until noon. The detainees were asked to undress and lie down with their legs spread open. The Emirati forces then touched their genitals and probed their rectums in search of mobile phones.[12]
Bin Salman mosque bombing
The Bin Salman mosque was bombed on 2 May 2008 at the Bin Salman Mosque in
Some witnesses said the target may have been the mosque's
Wadi Dawan attack
On January 18, 2008, there was an ambush attack on
In the wake of the attack,
Military and police counter-terrorism operations
After the
In December 2001 a search by government forces for two Yemenis believed to be senior al-Qaeda members hiding near
At the request of the United States, Spanish troops boarded and detained a ship transporting
On July 30, 2009, three soldiers were killed in a clash with al-Qaeda militants in Marib province.
An air raid targeted an al-Qaeda meeting in Wadi Rafadh, Shabwa province on December 24, 2009. Thirty-four al-Qaeda militants were killed in the attack. According to security forces, Saudis and Iranians were among those killed. The number of al-Qaeda members arrested the previous week rose to 29.[27]
US air attacks
The US first said that it used targeted killing in November 2002, with the cooperation and approval of the Yemeni government.[28][29] In 2004, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC-TV) international-affairs program Foreign Correspondent investigated the targeted killing and the involvement of the US ambassador as part of a report entitled "The Yemen Option". The report examined evolving tactics and countermeasures in dealing with al-Qaeda-inspired attacks.[30]
An estimated 98 US drone attacks were conducted in Yemen from 2002 to 2015: 41 in 2012, 26 in 2013 and 14 in 2014.[31]
2002 Al-Harethi killing
Early in 2002 the Bush administration approved sending about 100 Special Operations Forces to Yemen.[32]
Six Yemeni suspected al-Qaeda members were blown up in their car in
2010 al-Shabwani killing
In May 2010 an errant US drone attack targeting al Qaeda terrorists in
2011 airstrikes
On May 5, 2011, a missile fired from a US drone killed Abdullah and Mosaad Mubarak, brothers who may have been al-Qaeda militants. The missile struck their car, and both died instantly.[38][39] The strike intended to kill al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, but he was not hit in the strike.[40]
On June 3, 2011, American manned jets (or drones) killed Ali Abdullah Naji al-Harithi, a mid-level al-Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects, including Ammar Abadah Nasser al-Wa'eli, in a strike in southern Yemen.[41] Four civilians were also reportedly killed in the strike, reportedly coordinated by American special forces and CIA operatives based in Sanaa.[42] According to the Associated Press, in 2011 the US government began building an air base near Yemen from which the CIA and the US military planned to fly drones over Yemen.[43][44] This base is located at Umm Al Melh, just north of Yemen inside Saudi Arabia. The Washington Post reported that the US previously used a base in Djibouti to fly drones over Yemen,[45] while The Wall Street Journal reported that a US drone base in the Seychelles could be used to fly drones over Yemen.[46]
According to local residents and unnamed American and Yemeni government officials, on July 14, 2011, US manned aircraft (or drones) attacked and destroyed a police station in Mudiya, Abyan Governorate which had been occupied by al-Qaeda militants. Yemeni media and government accounts conflicted on the number of fatalities, estimated at between 6 and 50. The same day and nearby, drone missiles reportedly hit a car belonging to Yemeni al-Qaeda leader Fahd al-Quso, but al-Quso survived the attack.[47][48][49][50][51]
On August 1, 2011, US drones and reported Yemeni aircraft attacked three targets with bombs and missiles in southern Yemen, killing 15 suspected al-Qaeda militants and wounding 17 others. Targeted locations included al-Wahdah, al-Amodiah, and al-Khamilah in Abyan Governorate. One of those killed was reportedly militant leader Naser al-Shadadi. According to the Yemen Post online newspaper, "At least 35 US drone attacks were reported in Yemen over the last two months".[52][53][54] On August 24, unidentified aircraft attacked suspected al-Qaeda militants near Zinjibar. The strikes reportedly killed 30 militants and wounded 40 others.[55]
According to Yemeni officials, as reported in the
A reported drone strike in Zinjibar on October 5 killed five AQAP militants.[59] Yemeni government officials said that an October 14 US airstrike killed seven AQAP militants, including Egyptian-born AQAP media chief Ibrahim al-Bana.[60] Eight militants were reportedly killed in an airstrike near Jaar on December 17; a December 22 drone strike near Zinjibar reportedly killed Abdulrahman al-Wuhayshi, a relative of Yemeni al-Qaeda leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi.[61]
2012 airstrikes
A reported US airstrike on January 31, 2012, near the city of Lawder in Abyan province killed 11 AQAP militants. The dead reportedly included Abdul Monem al-Fahtani, a participant in the USS Cole bombing.[62] Drones engaged in three attacks in three days on March 9–11, 2012. The first strike targeted an AQAP hideout near Al Baydah, Baydah province, reportedly killing local AQAP leader Abdulwahhab al-Homaiqani and 16 of followers. The second strike, on Jaar in Abyan province, reportedly killed 20 AQAP fighters. The third strike, also on Jaar, reportedly killed three AQAP militants and targeted a storage location for weapons seized by AQAP after it overran a Yemeni military base in Al Koud the previous week.[63] A fourth drone strike, on March 14 in Al Bydah, reportedly killed four AQAP militants in a vehicle.[64]
On April 11, 14 militants were killed in a drone strike in the town of Lauder (northeast of Zinjibar in Abyan province).[65] An April 22 drone strike in the Al Samadah area, near the border of Marib and Al Jawf provinces, killed AQAP senior leader Mohammed Saeed al Umda (also known as Ghareeb al Taizi).[66] A suspected US drone strike killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso and another al-Qaida militant in southern Shabwa province on May 6.[67]
2013 Rada' wedding convoy strike
On December 12, 2013, 17 people
2014 airstrikes
On March 3, 2014, an airstrike believed carried out by an American drone killed three suspected AQAP members. Mujahid Gaber Saleh al Shabwani, one of Yemen's 25 most-wanted AQAP operatives, was thought to have been one of those killed.[73] According to a statement released by the Yemeni Interior Ministry, on April 20–21 three US drone strikes killed at least two dozen suspected AQAP members and destroyed one of the group's training camps in southern Yemen. Five civilians were wounded and three killed in the attack.[74] A June 13 suspected US drone strike targeted a car in the Mafraq al-Saeed region of Shabwah province, killing the five alleged AQAP operatives inside.[75]
See also
- List of drone strikes in Yemen
- Yemen model
References
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