Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Popular Committees threaten to end cooperation with Yemeni military in Abyan; al Houthis attack Yemeni checkpoint in Amran

Horn of Africa: unidentified assailants attack Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu; AMISOM and SNA forces clash with al Shabaab militants  in Galgudud region; Kenyan AMISOM forces recover kidnapped individuals in Lower Jubba region

Yemen Security Brief

• Popular Committees in Abyan governorate issued a statement on April 8 declaring that they are no longer responsible for maintaining security checkpoints throughout Abyan governorate. Committee leaders threatened to stop cooperating with the Yemeni army completely, unless they agree to officially conscript Popular Committee members and provide them with suitable weapons to combat al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).[1]

• Al Houthi militants purportedly attacked a Yemeni checkpoint near an entrance to Amran city on April 10. Local sources report that shots were fired, but further details remain unclear.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Unidentified assailants attacked the Turkish Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu on April 10. The assailants reportedly fired rockets at the embassy, injuring three construction workers. Two of the injured construction workers were identified as Turkish nationals. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.[3]

• Ethiopian AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) forces clashed with al Shabaab militants near El Bur in Galgudud region on April 10. The fighting, which featured heavy exchanges of gunfire, broke out after al Shabaab militants ambushed an Ethiopian AMISOM and SNA convoy. Reports indicate that 11 people were killed in the fighting, including six al Shabaab militants.[4]

• Kenyan AMISOM forces announced on April 11 the recovery of two individuals near Dhobley in Lower Jubba region. The individuals, James Kiarie and Daniel Njuguna, were kidnapped by al Shabaab in September 2011 while working for Kenyan aid organizations along the Somali-Kenyan border. Reports indicate that Kiarie and Njuguna may be the same individuals described in a February 21 al Shabaab statement posted on jihadist forums and social networking sites, claiming that two captured Kenyans converted to Islam while in captivity. In the statement, al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage, also known as Ali Dhere, declared the captives were free to choose to stay with al Shabaab in Somalia or return to Kenya.[5]