Yemen security forces launch raids on al-Qaeda training camps

Faisal Darem in Sanaa contributed to this report
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-12-17

[KHALED FAZAA/AFP/Getty Images] A Yemeni helicopter searches for al-Qaeda positions during Thursday's raids.

Yemeni security forces carried out a series of operations on Thursday (December 17th) and killed up to 34 suspected al-Qaeda members, officials said. Seventeen others were reportedly arrested.

The pre-dawn attacks were backed by airstrikes and targeted al-Qaeda training camps and hideouts in Abyan province in the south and in Arhab near the capital Sanaa.

An Interior Ministry statement described the raids as a "successful pre-emptive operation that led to the foiling of an al-Qaeda plan aiming to hit several targets—including schools".

Four suicide bombers were reportedly killed and four others were arrested in the Arhab operation. Security forces also struck a training camp in Abyan, where "between 24 and 30 al-Qaeda members, including foreign fighters were killed". International wire agencies reported that an unknown number of civilians were mistakenly killed in that attack.

The ministry statement said the "operation to track and hit al-Qaeda operatives is an ongoing operation that will not stop", adding that security forces will "foil plans to destabilize the country and harm its national economy".

In a statement to Al-Shorfa, the head of the information office at the ruling party, Tariq al-Shami, said security forces benefitted from "the terrorists leaving their hideouts in order to co-ordinate with the leaders of the southern separatist movement to carry out joint operations." He said this facilitated the tracking of their movements, arresting them and preventing them from carrying out their "destructive plots".

Al-Shami said these operations are part of a continuous effort carried out by the security forces, which last week succeeded in arresting members of al-Qaeda and killing two others in the Marib province.

In November, the coordinator of the UN Al-Qaeda and Taiban Sanctions Committee, Richard Barrett, described the Yemen wing of al-Qaeda as "the most dangerous offshoot" and "closest to the leadership".

"If you look at the relationship between al-Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and any group outside, the closest is with (al Qaeda) people in Yemen," he told Reuters.

"The most dangerous group is Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," he said, adding that it was seeking to attract Saudi militants.

The group changed its name to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in January, and announced plans to strike regional targets, including Saudi Arabia.

In August, it launched a failed attempt to assassinate the head of the Saudi counter-terrorism campaign, Prince Mohammad bin Nayef.

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