Al-Thawry [Archives:2008/1124/Press Review]
Thursday, January 24
Top Stories
– Security authorities arrest 228 suspects having connections with terror crimes
– Sana'a experiences overnight arrest and crackdown campaigns by police against potential terrorists
– Aden Writers Union: No confusion between unity and totalitarian regime
– Armed tribesmen raid medical laboratories center in Sana'a, destroy its contents
– Government transfers Al-Sadda officials and Ibb Antiquity Department manager to judiciary for investigation over antiquity robbery
– Al-Qaeda network in Yemen claims responsibility for Hadramout's attack on Belgian tourists
The weekly newspaper reported that Al-Qaeda organization in Yemen claimed responsibility for the Hadramout terrorist attack that targeted a Belgian tourist convoy, killing two women, their Yemeni driver and leaving three others, including a Belgian tourist, injured. It quoted a Qaeda comrade as scorning statements by security authorities that they arrested some of the suspects involved in the terrorist attack, among the two gunmen who fired into the tourist convoy.
The Qaeda leader said that those who launched the attack against the European tourists managed to flee the scene immediately, adding that the security authorities arrested innocent citizens who have no connections with Al-Qaeda or the attack. He noted that its organization launched the attack in retaliation for death of one of its comrades after severe torture in a political security jail. “This is also retaliation for the mistreatment which the jailed Al-Qaeda elements receive in security prisons,” the Qaeda leader reacted.
The weekly quoted American media as saying that “It's been a bad week for the Arabian Peninsula nation of Yemen. The country has been fighting hard to lure tourists, international donors and foreign investors to give its struggling economy a lift. But it's been beset by turmoil.
First there was a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence that left hundreds of people displaced in the country's impoverished north. Then came the Jan. 18 killing of two Belgian tourists visiting the country, allegedly at the hands of Al Qaeda. The renewed clashes between security forces and a small Shiite group caused the most consternation.”
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