Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Security forces clash with AQAP in eastern Yemen; Houthi and Yemeni government officials exchange blame for Sana’a airport delays; Oman secures release of fourteen foreign nationals from Houthis

Somalia: NISS foils an al Shabaab cell in Ethiopia; al Shabaab IED targets a high-ranking SNA officer in Mogadishu; al Shabaab shells Gorgor and SNA bases in southern Somalia

Yemen Security Brief:

Security forces clashed with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants near Sudaf, northern Hadramawt governorate, southeastern Yemen, on April 24.[i] Military sources reported the clash killed a “prominent AQAP leader,” though they did not provide a name.

Yemeni government and Houthi officials exchanged statements on the delayed resumption of flights from Sana’a airport on April 24. A Houthi official blamed Saudi Arabia and the UAE for the delay, claiming they refused to grant Yemenia Airways permission to land.[ii] Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar al Eyrani said the Houthis did not comply with an agreement to recognize passports issued by the Yemeni government, which he blamed for the delay.[iii] The Yemni government claimed 57 of 161 passengers were Houthi passport holders and that the Houthis refused to allow the remaining 104 passengers holding government passports to depart for Amman.[iv]

The Omani government secured the release of fourteen foreign nationals from Houthi custody on April 25. Among those released were British, Indonesian, Filipino, Indian, Ethiopian, and Burmese citizens.[v]

Somalia Security Brief:

Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) announced they had foiled an al Shabaab terror cell operating in the Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia, on April 23.[vi] The NISS arrested thirty-four suspected al Shabaab militants that were in the final stages of coordinating attacks in Ethiopia during April and May’s religious holidays. NISS claimed the cell received funding from Minnesota, Somaliland, and Kenya.[vii]

Al Shabaab detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) targeting a Somali National Army (SNA) brigadier general in Banadir junction, Wadajir district, Mogadishu, on April 25.[viii] The IED killed seven people in the convoy and wounded the target, Brigadier General Mohamed Hashi Guled.[ix] The convoy was traveling from Villa Baidoa base in Wadajir district.[x]

Al Shabaab mortared SNA’s October 14 Brigade and Turkish-trained Gorgor special forces bases in Awdheegle, Afgoi district, Lower Shabelle region, southern Somalia, on April 25.[xi] The mortars killed one civilian and wounded 12 soldiers and other civilians.[xii]