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Interrogating Criminal Intelligence in Sana’a
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Iraq’s Disappeared
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The Facts As They Are
Sunday, Oct 10, 2010 Volume 01 - Issue 17 Price: YER 30 www.nationalyemen.com
Frenchman’s Yemeni killer acted for ‘personal’ reasons NY Staff A young security guard who shot dead a Frenchman in Yemen this week appears to have acted for personal and criminal reasons, the Yemeni defence ministry said on Friday. Jacques Spagnolo, a contractor working for Austrian energy group OMV, was shot at the company’s compound in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday, the same day a British embassy car was targeted by a rocket attack that wounded one person. “It is probable that the murder of the Frenchman ... was for personal reasons and that it was of a criminal nature,” the ministry said on its website, without elaborating. “These conclusions are preliminary, as the inquest against security guard Hisham Mohammed Assem, 19, is still in its early stages,” the statement added. A 65-year-old Scot, said to be OMV’s security chief, was
also wounded in the attack, the statement said. On Wednesday, “the armed guard opened fire on the director, crying Allahu Akbar (God is greatest),” a security official said. OMV confirmed that a French contractor who was working for the company as a procurement officer died in hospital. It added that a British national, described as an expert who worked at the company’s branch office, was wounded in the attack. At the time, the Austrian firm said it saw “no political background for the action taken by the Yemeni security guard.” The man, who was guarding the company’s Yemen headquarters in Haddah, on the outskirts of Sanaa, was disarmed and arrested. The Austrian group has had a sizeable presence in Yemen
since it acquired the German firm Preussag Energie in 2003, with three large exploration and production licences and daily oil output of around 6,500 barrels per day. In July, Al-Qaeda militants launched an attack near one of the OMV-operated oil fields in the southeastern Shabwa province, which killed six soldiers and two jihadists. Yemeni agent killed, three people wounded in attacks A Yemeni intelligence officer has been killed and two policemen and a detained suspect wounded in separate attacks in the south, military and security sources said on Saturday. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Bashraheel was shot dead on Friday by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle in Foha, west of Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, a security official said. Continued on ( 3 )
British Diplomatic Vehicle Ambushed Wednesday NY Staff The British ambassador to Yemen said on Thursday the embassy car attacked in Sana’a a day earlier was probably targeted because it was a diplomatic vehicle. The attack, which occurred at approximately 8.15am on Wednesday morning wounded is reported to have wounded an embassy staffer inside the car and left at least two bystanders hurt. The vehicle was carrying Britain’s Deputy Head of Mission, Fiona Gibb. However Tim Torlot, the outgoing ambassador, told BBC radio’s “Today” program it’s “impossible to say” whether the car was attacked because it was British, but it may have been recognized as belonging to diplomats. The vehicle had been on its way to the embassy when it was attacked, the British Foreign Office said. The site of the attack, which occurred 3km away from the British embassy, near a turn off from Khawlan street is a steep ‘bottleneck’ for internationals going to embassies or hotels in Sana’a.
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“A number of diplomatic vehicles pass along the road where we were driving yesterday on their way to work,” Torlot said. “They tend to be American and British diplomats because of where our embassies are. But it’s impossible to say at this stage.” Torlot’s wounded colleague is now in a Sanaa hospital with blast injuries on his side and back and damage to his ear, he said. The staff member was expected to recover and leave hospital later Thursday, he said. British Foreign Secretary William Hague, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, and the U.S. Embassy in Yemen all condemned the attack. There was early speculation that it was a mortar round, but eyewitnesses and security officials at the scene of the attack said they believed it was a rocket attack, based on rocket fragments they saw at the scene. “The RPG missed the car, but when it hit the ground some shrapnel hit a woman in the head,” said an eyewitness. “She was with a child and they were both taken to the hospital. After
the explosion the car veered off to the side,” he added. “The explosion shattered windows and everyone came out their houses to the streets,” said another eyewitness. Officials were quick to announce that the attack “bore all the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.” However, as of yet, no group – extremist or otherwise – is reported to have claimed responsibility for the attack. Although AQAP have recently claimed responsibility for the ambush on September 25th in Sana’a which targeted a bus carrying political security officers. AQAP are reported to have posted on Islamist websites that “[A] mujahideen brigade in Sana’a attacked a bus ... which resulted in the death of 14 intelligence officers belonging to a counter-terrorism unit.” “These officers had just completed an anti-terrorism course held under American supervision,” the statement added. Four suspects thought to have been involved in the September ambush have been arrested.
Police and security forces rush to the scene after the grenade attack on the British diplomatic car on Wednesday morning.
Yemeni agent killed, three people wounded in attacks NY Staff A Yemeni intelligence officer has been killed and two policemen and a detained suspect wounded in separate attacks in the south, military and security sources said on Saturday. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Bashraheel was shot dead on Friday by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle in Foha, west of Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, a security official said. He was with members of his family outside a store when he was attacked by the gunmen, who fled afterwards. In Abyan province further west, a police car was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, also on Friday. Two policemen were wounded, as well as a man whom they had arrested on criminal charges and who suffered serious injuries. The suspect, Mohammed al-Jaadani, had been arrested in the city of Loder, which was the site of clashes between the army and suspected Al-Qaeda militants in August that killed 33 people. Loder is also a focal point of activity by the Southern Movement, a coalition of groups demanding either independence or autonomy for the south.
Saleh confirms Yemen’s solidarity with Sudan President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed yesterday Yemen’s solidarity with Sudan’s stability, sovereignty and unity. This came during his meeting with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Sirt city, Libya. The two leaders discussed issues listed in the agenda of the Arab summit, currently held in Sirt, as well as the bilateral relations and areas of joint cooperation between the two
brotherly countries and means of boosting them to serve interests of the two countries’ peoples. Al-Bashir briefed Saleh on the developments of situation in Sudan, including the situation in Darfur and South Sudan. President Saleh confirmed Yemen’s solidarity with Sudan’s stability, sovereignty and unity.
Yemen to recruit police dogs for Gulf 20 By NY Staff Yemen is considering purchasing police dogs instead of renting a cruise ship, as was published in National Yemen (issue 11) due to the high cost of the ship which rented for $70,000 US per day. So the government decided that instead of housing the visiting teams on a cruise ship that would facilitate strong security measures, it would house the teams at various locations around Aden and Abyan, but would use police dogs to provide the necessary security. The dogs are trained to sniff out any explosive devices and would be posted at checkpoints, entrances to Aden and Abyan cities, and in the sports stadiums. The government has
budgeted $20 million US to purchase these dogs. These dogs will join a complement of 30,000 soldiers from the Special Republic Commanders unit. These measures have been taken to assure visitors that Yemen is capable and committed to providing the necessary security. The UAE delegation has been particularly reticent. One proposal on the table to allay the UAE team’s security concerns is that the team would play its games in Aden, but would stay in Sana’a, being ferried between the cities by Felix Airways. The Gulf 20 football tournament is scheduled to begin in late December.
10/11/10 6:32 PM