Gulf of Aden Security Review - November 9, 2009

Yemen: Al Houthi rebels claim to have brought down a Yemeni Sukhoi bomber on Sunday; tribesmen blockade Sana’a-Mar’ib road seeking compensation for land seizures; Yemeni investigators report five Iranian sailors threw mobiles and laptops overboard before arrest; Yemen urged Iran to take action against Iranian-based support for the al Houthi rebels; security forces arrest 14-year old boy strapped with explosives near Sam Refugee Camp; ATM at the Saba Islamic Bank in Aden exploded

Horn of Africa: Somali pirates seize U.A.E.-flagged cargo ship full of arms and attack Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker; Hizb al Islam executed one of its militants for murder; Ahlu Sunna Waljamaa displayed soldiers in uniform on Sunday; ten masked gunmen kidnapped four from Mogadishu market; Uganda on high-alert following report of three British nationals of Somali descent entering the country; clashes in Mogadishu kill five, injure ten; convicted rapist stoned to death in Marka in the Lower Shabelle Region

Yemen Security Brief

• On Sunday, al Houthi rebels claim to have downed a Yemeni Sukhoi bomber near the village of Razeh.  This is the third warplane that has crashed since the beginning of OPERATION SCORCHED EARTH, each one attributed by the government to mechanical failure.[1]

• Tribesmen have blockaded the Sana’a-Mar’ib road and have seized several oil and gas trucks.  Four-hundred men from the Jahm tribe have vowed to continue the blockade until they regain their land they claim was taken by the Interior Ministry.[2]

• According to Yemeni investigators, the five Iranian sailors arrested on October 26, 2009 on suspicions of delivering weapons to the al Houthi rebels threw their mobiles and laptops into the ocean.  Experts were sent from Sana’a to Midi harbor in order to collect more information on the ship, Yohan 1, and its cargo.[3]

• Yemen has called on Iran to take action against Iranian-based religious groups who are aiding the al Houthi rebellion in the north.  Yemen claims that it has evidence that the al Houthi rebels have received aid from Iranian religious bodies, as well as Shiite groups in Europe and the Arabian Gulf.[4]

• Security forces arrested a 14-year old boy strapped with explosives on his way to Sam Refugee Camp.  Security sources say the boy, Abdul Wahab Ahmed al Kawkabani, was recruited by “terrorist elements” to carry out an attack on the camp of displaced people.[5]

• An ATM at the Saba Islamic Bank in Aden blew up Saturday morning.  According to the director of the branch, the ATM suddenly blew up at 8:30 am local time.  No robbery occurred and the bank continued its normal activities.[6]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Somali pirates seized a U.A.E.-flagged ship loaded with weapons en route to Somalia on Sunday.  On Monday, pirates attempted to hijack a Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker about 1000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, but the captain navigated to safety.  The U.A.E. vessel is believed to have been carrying light arms, ammunition, rockets, and RPG’s, breaking a UN arms embargo on Somalia.  The attempted hijacking of the Hong Kong tanker was the farthest off-shore attack yet.  Additionally, Spain may have agreed to free the two pirates it has in its custody in exchange for the release of Spanish crew members held hostage by Somali pirates.[7]

• Hizb al Islam executed one of its militants, Abdukadir Mohamed Abdi, on Sunday for murdering a doctor in Afgoye town in the Lower Shabelle region.  Abdi had shot the doctor for refusing to stop smoking his cigarette.[8]

• Ahlu Sunna Waljamaa, a pro-government Sufi group that controls most of the central Galgudud region, displayed a uniformed military outfit in the central town of Abudwaq on Sunday.  Officials report that some 600 soldiers, armed with different weaponries and armored vehicles, completed three-months of training in the Abudwaq district and have been deployed to towns to maintain security.  Others are still in training and will be deployed at a later date.[9]

• Ten masked gunmen have kidnapped two Kenyans and two Somalis who work for a printing company in the main market, Bakara Market, which is within an Islamist-controlled area of Mogadishu.  The Somalis have since been released.[10]

• Ugandan security officials are on high-alert following reports that three British nationals of Somali descent entered the country over the past three weeks.  Following the threats issued by al Shabaab, there has been a countrywide registration of Somalis in order to identify new arrivals.[11]

• Fresh clashes between government troops and Islamist insurgents in Mogadishu killed at least five people and injured at least ten others.  The fighting began late Saturday in Bondhere and Abdi Aziz districts in the center of Mogadishu after Islamists attacked government bases in the area.[12]

• The administration of Marka, a town in the Lower Shabelle Region in southern Somalia, stoned Abass Hussein to death after he pled guilty to raping Hawa Sheikh Ali.  This is reportedly the third time that the punishment of stoning has been applied in Somalia.[13]