EYES ON ADEN [Archives:2001/02/Front Page]
January 8 2001
Security sources in Aden told the Yemen Times that 6-8 suspects accused of bombing USS Cole will be tried within a few days.
Last Saturday a number of American, Yemeni investigators and security experts started field work by taking photos of the houses and buildings in Al-Tawahi, Khormakser, Al-Buraiqah, and Al-Mansurah. They employed a number of Yemeni professional translators and interpreters who will be working during the trial period.
High protective and stiff security measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the 49 U.S. investigators and officials in Aden, particularly during the trial period to take place in Aden.
This comes after five explosions had occurred in Aden last week, just as the year 2001 had started. At around 5:30 in the dawn of January 1st, 2001, a powerful explosion rocked a building belonging to the Angelic Christ Church in Al-Tawwahi of Aden. This building was used as a non-profit clinic run by the body responsible of the church. The explosion caused considerable physical damage to some of the rooms, but there were no causalities.
The first explosion of the New Years day. however, targeted the Yemen-Intercontinental Hotel in Khormaksar just after midnight. According to eye witnesses, the explosion was caused by an RBG missile thought to be fired from a distant location as the attackers had probably targeted the building, but the missile fell short to explode in the hotels yard causing no substantial damage or casualties.
The third explosion on the other hand, took place on the road leading to the Buraiqa City few kilometers west north of Aden. The road is usually taken by official envoys carrying foreign guests heading to the VIP official guesthouse of the city located at Kod Al-Namir in the Buraiqa area.
The fourth explosion was carried out near Aden International Airport but resulted in not much damage and no causalities.
The fifth explosion occurred at noon on Tuesday January 2, and led to extensive damage to the fence of the Aden branch of the Official News Agency (Saba) also resulting in a minor injury to a passer by.
Reliable sources indicated that Aden Abyan Islamist Army carried out these explosions in an attempt to pressure the government to release a number -said to be more than 2- of their members currently in jail for being involved in terrorist action.
Yemeni observers consider the actions of Abyan Army as a message directed to the Yemeni government falsifying the continuous statements of the Ministry of Interior that this group is no longer active and that its entity as an Army is no longer valid as most of its members are either imprisoned or executed.
It is worth mentioning that the army also tried many times to request the government to stop arresting their members and affiliates and instead offer them positions in the Yemeni army. The army also requested many times that the search for more suspects involved in the kidnapping at the end of 1998 that led to a failed rescue attempt and the killing of 4 tourists. The armys leader, Abulhassan Al-Mihdar had been executed in 1999, and many of the suspects by then were acquitted for the insufficiency of evidence against them in the charges of being involved in terrorist actions.
Some sources indicated that the late explosions caused a bit of concern of the functionality of the security forces in Aden, especially after the USS Cole incident that caused the death of 17 American marines.
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