Gulf of Aden Security Review - August 17, 2010

Yemen: Suspected al Qaeda gunmen assassinate intelligence officer in Zinjibar; ten men arrested in Lahij province; al Houthi rebels reportedly attacked government buildings in Jawf province; government and al Houthi rebels to sign agreement in Doha

Horn of Africa: Violence in Mogadishu kills at least nine people and injures over fifty others; fighting breaks out between Ethiopian troops and Somali youths in Somali region of Ethiopia; Guriel district commissioner targeted by explosion; food prices rise during Ramadan due to violence

Yemen Security Brief

• Two masked gunmen attacked Qassem Abdulkarim, a Yemeni intelligence officer, in a market in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province.  The men were carrying AK-47 assault rifles and fled the scene after the attack, according to security officials.  A few hours earlier, the bodyguards of two senior security officers in Jaar thwarted an attack by gunmen.  These were suspected al Qaeda attacks.[1]

• Yemeni security forces arrested a total of ten men in Lahij province on suspicions of involvement in the assassination of the intelligence officer Ali Abdul Kareem Fadhal al Ban, the director of Intelligence in the district of Tuban in Lahij province.  Al Ban headed local investigations into al Qaeda suspects and separatists.[2]

•  Official Yemeni media sources reported that al Houthi rebels have burned and looted government buildings in Jawf province.  Reportedly, over fifty men attacked government sites in Khrab al Mawshi district of Jawf province, who then clashed with local pro-government tribesmen in a nearby village.[3]

•  An official source stated Monday that the Yemeni government and the al Houthi rebels agreed to send delegations to Qatar to sign the 2007 Doha-brokered peace treaty.  This step was agreed to during the visit of Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim al Thani.  Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh received a letter from Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa that described the Qatari efforts in brokering peace between the al Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• At least nine people died and 53 others were wounded after Hizb al Islam militants attacked government positions near Taleh neighborhood and Taribunka neighborhood.  The victims were hit by a shell that fell on an IDP camp near the Digfeer Hospital in south Mogadishu.  Reports say the casualty numbers rose to 15 dead and 60 wounded.[5]

• Clashes broke out between Ethiopian troops and Somali youths in the Somali region of Ethiopia according to witnesses.  Reportedly, the fighting began in Jeed village, between Balanbal and Lasanod, about 70 km west of Balanbal district of Galgudud.[6]

• A remote-controlled device detonated and injured the Ahlu Sunna wa al Jama’a district commissioner of the Guriel district of Galgudud region, Osman Isse Nor, also known as Tarduled, in addition to injuring two of his children and another man.[7]

• Somali businessmen report that the prices of select food items in Mogadishu have increased by fifty percent since the beginning of Ramadan.  Violence has also increased because “the traders have either left or halted importing food, fearing the fighting might increase,” according to Ali Dahir, a local businessman.[8]