Gulf of Aden Security Review - July 24, 2014

Yemen: AQAP militants assassinate Yemeni intelligence officer in Lahij; tensions escalate between al Houthi militants and al Islah Party tribesmen in Sana’a; Yemeni Oil Ministry engineers repair damaged oil pipeline in Ma’rib

Horn of Africa: al Shabaab militants execute suspected spy in Bay region; Somali military court executes four alleged al Shabaab militants in Mogadishu; FBI announces arrest of three women for providing material support to al Shabaab

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants riding on a motorcycle assassinated Major Bilal Karo, a Yemeni intelligence officer that worked in the al Anad air base in Lahij, near his home in Thalab, Lahij on July 23.[1]

• Anonymous tribal sources reported on July 23 that al Houthi militants and al Islah Party tribesmen continued to gather fighters and construct checkpoints and trenches in Arhab, Sana’a.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab militants publically executed a suspected Somali Federal Government spy in Dinsor, Bay region on July 23. An al Shabaab spokesman stated that the suspect, 14-year-old Farhiyo Abdinasir Mohamed, pleaded guilty to the crime after she was caught providing information to the Somali government in Uforow, Bay region.[3]

• A Somali National Army (SNA) military court executed four alleged al Shabaab militants, Aawiye Ahmed Jama, Nur Abdulle Awale, Mustaf Mohamud Shidane, and Abdinasir Khalif Mohamed, in Mogadishu on July 24. Somali security forces originally arrested Jama in connection with the November 2013 Maka al Mukarama Hotel bombing in Mogadishu, Awale for possession of mortar ammunition used to shell Mogadishu, and Shidane and Mohamed for killing a Somali security officer in the Hodan district of Mogadishu.[4]

• The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced, on July 23, the arrest of three women on charges of providing material support to al Shabaab. Authorities arrested Muna Osman Jama at her residence in Reston, Virginia, Hinda Osman Dhirane at her residence in Kent, Washington, and Farhia Hassan at her residence in the Netherlands. The announcement also identified two additional women, Fardowsa Jama Mohamed in Kenya and Barir Hassan Abdullahi in Somalia, as fugitives facing similar charges.[5]