Gulf of Aden Security Review - September 16, 2014

Yemen: AQAP releases joint statement with AQIM; Al Houthi militants attack Yemeni military and al Islah party tribesmen in al Jawf; Yemeni Air Force strikes al Houthi militants in Ma’rib

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab spokesman denies that Ugandan authorities disrupted the militant group’s terror cell in Kampala, Uganda; Somali security forces disarm roadside IED near a police station in Jowhar, Middle Shabelle region; AMISOM and Somali National Army forces conduct security operation in Mogadishu

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a joint statement criticizing the U.S.-led military alliance in Iraq and Syria, calling for Jihadi groups to form a universal coalition and expressing condolences for the recent deaths of leaders of the Ahrar al Sham Islamic Movement.[1]

• Al Houthi militants attacked Yemeni military forces and al Islah party tribesmen in al Ghayl, al Jawf on September 15, regaining control of multiple strategic positions. Additionally, al Houthi militants ambushed the convoy of military commander Saleh Amer in Hamdan, Sana’a on September 16, resulting in the deaths of six people.[2]

• The Yemeni Air Force launched three separate air strikes against al Houthi militants in Ma’rib on September 15. No casualties were immediately reported.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage, also known as Ali Dhere, issued a statement on September 15 denying that a 13 September U.S. and Ugandan security operation successfully disrupted an al Shabaab cell in Kampala, Uganda.[4]

• Somali security forces disarmed an improvised explosive device (IED) planted near the main police station in Jowhar, Middle Shabelle region on September 15.[5]  

• African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali National Army forces (SNA) forces arrested an unspecified number of suspects in a security operation in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu on September 16.[6]