SANAA – Yemen yesterday began an operation to arrest a Saudi bombmaker accused of being behind a foiled bomb plot involving US-bound parcels.
Meanwhile, suspected al-Qaeda fighters in the country blew up an oil pipeline, apparently in response.
Yemen’s military, under international pressure to find the bombmaker, deployed to the south of the country, where insurgents attacked a pipeline operated by the Korean National Oil Corporation. It was not clear whether oil exports would be affected.
“This is one of the things we should expect because al-Qaeda wants to give the message to the Yemeni government that military escalation does not mean that al-Qaeda will remain silent now – that they will react and escalate,” said Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director at Brookings Institute’s Doha Centres.
The aim of the military operation in the provinces of Maarib and Shabwa, where oil and gas fields of international companies are located, was to capture suspected bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Yemeni official said. The pipeline attack was in Shabwa.
The mission also aims to catch the US-born radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is wanted by Washington. “They want to underline their sincerity in fighting al-Qaeda. They’re in the spotlight again and they want to show they’re dealing with the issue,” said Nicole Stracke at the Gulf Research Centre.
Yemeni authorities also began the trial in absentia of al-Awlaki, who has been linked to the failed bombing of a US-bound jet in December 2009 that was claimed by Yemen’s al-Qaeda wing, and who is thought to be in southern Yemen. “The timing of this [Awlaki] trial leaves no doubt that this is also in response to international pressure on the government,” said Mr Sharqieh.
The US treasury has blacklisted Awlaki as a “specially designated global terrorist”. The two parcel bombs were found last week on cargo craft in Britain and Dubai, and are thought to be the work of al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based arm, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), US officials say.
Last week’s plot deepened western security fears focused on Yemen after AQAP had claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb which Saudi Arabia’s security chief narrowly survived in August 2009, and the foiled Christmas Day attack on a US-bound craft.
US president Barack Obama has increased funding for Yemen this year, providing $150 million (€106.8 million) in military assistance alone.
Unmanned US drone aircraft gather information about militants and have occasionally fired missiles at them, although neither Washington nor Sanaa is keen to admit this. The muscular approach risks provoking a fierce backlash among Yemenis deeply hostile to the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and to Washington’s support for Israel. – (Reuters)