Gulf of Aden Security Review - August 5, 2014

Yemen: AQAP releases video of clashes between AQAP militants and Yemeni military in Hadramawt; AQAP releases documentary video on life of deceased deputy leader; al Houthi militants clash with local tribesmen in al Jawf; Ansar al Sharia publishes statements regarding fighting in Hadramawt

Horn of Africa: al Shabaab claims suicide bomb attack targeting Puntland police personnel in Bari region; Somali President Mohamud declares suspension of AMISOM troop rotations during Ebola outbreak

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) media arm, al Malahem Media Foundation, released a video featuring a May 23 attack in Sayun, Hadramawt on August 4. The video also features an interview with Jalal Baleedi, a leading AQAP figure in Abyan, and footage of the clashes.[1]

• AQAP’s media arm, al Malahem, released a documentary about the life of Said al Shihri on August 3. Al Shihri, a Saudi citizen, was the deputy leader of AQAP until he was killed in an airstrike in January 2013. The video discusses al Shihri’s life and discusses ideological differences within AQAP that al Shihri was trying to solve.[2]

• Ansar al Sharia released a statement titled “The Harvest of Hadramawt Governorate” on August 3. The publication featured photographs of destruction brought on by fighting throughout the Hadramawt governorate. Additionally, Ansar al Sharia also released a statement titled “Killed and injured from the Yemeni Army In Clashes In the Valley of Hadramawt.”[3]

• Al Houthi militants clashed with local tribesmen in al Ghayl, al Jawf on August 4, shortly after a ceasefire was brokered by a presidential mediation committee.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• An al Shabaab militant detonated an SVEST device inside a Puntland police compound, killing a senior police official and at least three other security personnel, in Boosaaso, Bari region on August 4. Al Shabaab spokesman Sehikh Abdul Aziz Abu Musab claimed responsibility for the blast, explaining that al Shabaab targeted Puntland police personnel as retribution for counterterrorism operations against the group in the region.[5]

• Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced on August 4 that the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali Federal Government agreed to suspend AMISOM troop rotations in an effort to mitigate public health risks to Somalia during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. President Mohamud’s statement, which came during an interview at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, echoed AMISOM’s August 1 decision to delay the Sierra Leonean AMISOM contingent’s annual troop rotation.[6]