Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: AQAP releases statements claiming credit for the July 4 Wadia border attack and condemning Israeli operations in the Gaza strip; suspected AQAP militants clash with Yemeni military in Shabwah; al Houthi leader calls for end to public corruption and reform in al Islah Party; unidentified gunmen kill two civilians in Aden

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab militants shell town in Hiraan region; car bomb kills Somali government official in Mogadishu; suspected al Shabaab militants target senior Interim Jubba Administration official in Lower Jubba region

Yemen Security Brief

• AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) released a statement to Twitter on July 17, claiming credit for the July 4 attack against the Wadia border post in Hadramawt along the Yemeni-Saudi border, identifying the participants and describing operational details. Separately, AQAP’s media arm, al Malahem Media Foundation, released a statement entitled “Word of Sheikh Harith al Nadhari on the Aggression in Gaza,” to YouTube on July 17. Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, an AQAP religious official, condemned, in the statement,  Israel’s aggression in Gaza and urged the Islamic community to fight against Americans and Jews.[1]

• Suspected AQAP militants clashed with the Yemeni military at the Yemeni military barracks in Arim, Shabwah, on July 18, killing two soldiers and one militant and wounding five others.[2]

• The leader of the al Houthi movement, Abdul Malik al Houthi, issued a public statement on July 18, announcing the release of 250 prisoners captured during the recent Amran clashes, calling for an end to public corruption in the Yemeni government, and encouraging reform within the “politically isolated” al Islah Party.[3]

• Unidentified gunmen opened fire on civilians in Mansoura, Aden on July 18, killing two.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab militants fired mortar shells into Bulo-Burde, Hiraan region, killing at least one person, over the night of July 17. African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali National Army (SNA) forces responded to the shelling, reportedly driving the militants from positions near the town. Separately, AMISOM and SNA forces continued to clash with al Shabaab militants in several locations throughout Bay region, including Awdinle, Goof Guduud, and Toosweyne, on July 18.[5]

• A car bomb detonated, killing a Somali government official, in the Hodan district of Mogadishu on July 18. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.[6]

• Suspected al Shabaab militants attacked the residence of a senior Interim Jubba Administration official, Mohamed Sugow, in Kismayo, Lower Jubba region on July 18. The militants injured Sugow before Jubbaland security forces repelled the attack. Separately, Jubbaland security forces disrupted al Shabaab militants as they were planting a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) in Kismayo on July 18. The security forces killed one militant during the incident.[7]