Gulf of Aden Security Review - June 6, 2014

Yemen: AQAP releases statement praising the AQAP raid on Hinan military post in Hadramawt governorate; unidentified assailant detonates explosive near mosque in Sana’a governorate; sources identify AQAP commander as victim of airstrike in Ma’rib governorate

Horn of Africa: suspected al Shabaab militants attack Kenyan police in Kenya’s North Eastern Province; Ugandan police issue terror alert after suspected al Shabaab militants traverse the Kenya-Uganda border

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) media arm, al Malahem Media Foundation, released a statement, entitled “Allah has Men,” to YouTube on May 30. Within the statement, Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, an AQAP religious official, called for Muslims to take revenge against their enemies and praised the AQAP raid on the Hinan military post in Hadramawt governorate on April 4.[1]

• Unidentified assailants detonated an unknown explosive device outside a mosque during Friday prayers in Sana’a on June 6. Although the target of the blast remains unclear, the Secretary General of al Islah party, Abdul Wahab al Ansi, was praying in the mosque at the time of the explosion. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast and no casualties have been reported.[2]

• Yemeni tribal sources reported that Jafar al Shabwani, a local AQAP commander from the al Shabwan tribe of Wadi Abida, and two of his fighters were killed in the airstrike that struck a pickup truck in the Maghifar area of the Wadi Abida district in Ma’rib governorate on June 5. AQAP has not yet released an official statement on the airstrike or a martyrdom statement for the militants.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Suspected al Shabaab militants  attacked a Kenyan police camp in Liboi near the Kenya-Somalia border in Kenya’s North Eastern Province on June 4. Local administrator Alber Kimathi reported that the attackers fired indiscriminately upon police buildings, attempting to goad the police into an engagement outside of the camp. Although the police exchanged gunfire with the suspected militants, Kimathi indicated that no casualties were suffered as the attackers quickly fled across the border into Somalia.[4]

• Ugandan police issued a terror alert on June 6 after suspected al Shabaab militants allegedly entered Uganda via Kenya with the intention of conducting attacks in the country. Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga, after identifying the make and model of the suspected militants’ vehicles, called for both security forces and the public to maintain vigilance and report any suspicious activity. The terror alert came two days after the U.S. Embassy to Uganda issued a security message, citing the threat of terror attacks on soft targets and large crowds in Uganda, to its citizens in country on June 4. Separately, Ethiopia announced on June 5 that Ethiopian police arrested 25 suspected al Shabaab militants in recent counterterrorism operations. The 25 individuals were suspected of planning a series of attacks in Jimma in Oromia region.[5]