Yemen fights its 'war on terror'
Government troops battled armed radicals in the mountains of southern Yemen, Nasser Arrabyee reports from Sana'a
In one of the fiercest fights between the army and Islamist extremists since Yemen stepped up its involvement in the American-led 'War on Terror', US- trained Special Counter-Terrorism forces and other units of the armed forces stormed a hideout in the Hatat mountain range, 450 kilometres south of Sana'a. Six militants were killed and 11 captured in the violence which also left one army officer slain and five soldiers wounded. Official statements placed the extremist group's leader, Khalid Abdul- Nabi, among the dead.
The current showdown in the Hatat mountains began 21 June when a band of armed men opened fire on a military medical convoy, injuring seven personnel. The attack was an embarrassment to the government, which had repeatedly reassured Washington that all armed Islamist movements in Hatat had been eliminated. Sana'a promptly sent an armed force to the vicinity of the attack, soon discovering and besieging a guerrilla camp. Four days of mediation efforts by tribal leaders trying to arrange the peaceful surrender of the militants were fruitless. On 25 June soldiers began the assault, bringing helicopters, tanks, and heavy artillery to bear against the camp. An estimated 60 militants escaped, fleeing further into the rugged mountains, and are currently being tracked by soldiers.
According to local sources in Hatat, the 21 June attack may have been an attempt at exacting revenge against the government for the November assassination of Al-Qa'eda lieutenant Abu Ali Al-Harithy, killed along with five aides when a CIA Predator drone obliterated their vehicle with a Hellfire missile.
Approval for the attack from Sana'a, and its broader prosecution of the 'War on Terror' has exacerbated tensions between the government and those sympathetic to Islamist militancy. The army's campaign to quell unrest drew some criticism locally, such as a Sana'a imam arguing during his Friday sermon, "The group disobeyed the president and broke the law, and this was certainly wrong, but their use of force resulted from the state violence and official extremism."
The exact identity of this particular armed group remains murky, but it is primarily composed of veterans from the Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan. Founded in 1996 with a core of ex- mujahidin, Aden-Abyan most notoriously kidnapped 16 tourists, killing four during a botched rescue attempt by the government. With a government crackdown, its leader Abu Bakr Al-Mehdar was executed in 1999, and the members who escaped capture sought refuge in the untamed hinterlands of Yemen. These militants, among them Abdul- Nabi, regrouped near Hatat, later incorporating some outlaws from Al- Qa'eda and Jihad. The Islamist group's links to Al-Qa'eda otherwise appear to be purely ideological, though authorities are still uncertain about the sources of their funding. The organisation has also been tied to the attack on a French oil tanker last year that killed one crewman.
Under American pressure since the bombing of the US destroyer Cole in 2000 as it was anchored for refueling in Aden, and especially since 11 September cast a spotlight on Islamist militancy in the Hadramaut region, Sana'a has intensified its fight against Islamist organisations. Casting aside concerns that the government's action was forced by pressure from Washington, President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters in Paris "this is our own policy for the sake of stability, development [and] poverty alleviation." The central government has struggled to exert control over the traditionally autonomous and heavily-armed rural highland. In the capital, Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bajamal announced "the government is determined to continue chasing the elements of extremism and terrorism until this epidemic is completely eradicated."
