Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Ma’rib tribes attack military convoy traveling through province; Ansar al Sharia and affiliated tribes attack al Houthis in al Bayda; Ansar al Sharia detonates IED targeting military in Hadramawt

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab militants attack government forces in Bay region and Kenya’s Coast Province; suspected al Shabaab militants target civilians with car bomb in Mogadishu; US security officials confirm death of al Shabaab intelligence chief during US airstrike

Yemen Security Brief

• Ma’rib tribal militias attacked a military convoy in al Nakhla, Ma’rib on January 1, leading to an estimated 15 deaths. Ma’rib tribes reportedly attempted to stop the military convoy from travelling through an al Houthi-controlled area due to fears that al Houthis would seize arms from the convoy.[1]

• Ansar al Sharia militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) targeting al Houthis in Qayfa, al Bayda on January 2, killing four. The explosion followed fighting in Qayfa between al Houthis and tribes backed by Ansar al Sharia that began on January 1.[2]

• Ansar al Sharia detonated an IED targeting an army patrol outside of Sayun, Hadramawt on January 1, killing an estimated four soldiers. Ansar al Sharia later claimed credit for the attack.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab militants attacked a Somali National Army (SNA) base in Baidoa, Bay region on January 2, resulting in the deaths of seven militants and at least seven government soldiers. Separately, suspected al Shabaab militants ambushed a Kenyan military vehicle in Lamu in Kenya’s Coast Province on January 1, wounding three soldiers.[4]

• Suspected al Shabaab militants planted a car bomb near the KM4 district of Mogadishu, killing one and wounding two on January 2.[5]

• Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed that Tahliil Abdishakur, the chief of al Shabaab’s intelligence and special operations unit Amniyat, was killed during a December 29 US airstrike.[6]