Gulf of Aden Security Review - December 27, 2013

Yemen: Artillery shells kill 13 people in Dhaleh city; gunmen kill three soldiers in Hadramawt; explosives found in boat near Mocha; UN condemns December 12 airstrikes

Horn of Africa: Explosion at Mogadishu restaurant kills at least eight people; Ethiopia says al Shabaab behind October bombing attempt

Yemen Security Brief

• Four artillery shells struck a funeral tent in Dhaleh city, killing 13 people on December 27. Family and friends were paying their condolences to the family of a man who had been killed in earlier clashes. A committee has been tasked with investigating the incident.[1]

• Gunmen attacked an army checkpoint at the entrance to Shihr in Hadramawt governorate on December 26 killing three soldiers and injuring several others.[2]

• The 35th Armored Brigade caught a boat laden with explosives in Mocha, Taiz governorate, on December 26.[3]

• The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement on the December 12 airstrikes in al Bayda governorate. The December 26 statement condemned the airstrikes, which reportedly hit two separate wedding processions and killed 16 people.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• A remote-controlled bomb exploded in a restaurant in Daynile district of Mogadishu on December 27. At least eight people were killed, including at least three soldiers. The restaurant is near a government military base, and salaries had just been paid there. Al Shabaab is believed to be responsible, though no group has claimed responsibility yet. Separately, a landmine detonated in Bangala neighborhood of Daynile district, though casualties have not been reported yet.[5]

• Ethiopian security officials said that al Shabaab was behind the attempted bombing of Addis Ababa stadium in October. The suspects confessed on television that they had been sent by al Shabaab and that they were also to conduct a second suicide attack in Jigjiga town in Ethiopia’s Somali region this month.[6]