Gulf of Aden Security Review - November 18, 2014

Yemen: Unidentified militants assassinate al Islah Party leader in Taiz; Government officials meet with al Houthi leadership in Sa’ada; tribal militants fight military troops in Ma’rib; unidentified gunmen attack government convoy in Ma’rib

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab militants attack market in Bay region; unidentified gunmen kill civilian in Mogadishu; armed assailants kill four civilians in Kenya’s Coast Province

Yemen Security Brief

• Unidentified militants detonated a car bomb attached to al Islah Party Assistant Secretary General Sadiq Mansour’s vehicle in Taiz, 250 km south of Sana’a, on November 18, killing him instantly. The U.S. Embassy condemned the assassination in a statement on November 18.[1]

• Delegates from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior met with Abdul Malik al Houthi in Sa’ada on November 18 following a November 17 call from President Hadi for the Military to normalize relationships with al Houthi militants. The alleged purpose of the meeting was to discuss accommodating the al Houthi movement militarily.[2]

• Tribal militants ambushed and gained temporary control of three oil tankers in Wadi Abida, Ma’rib, 300 km east of Sana’a, on November 17. Government soldiers from the Third Military Region later arrived and regained control of the tankers, killing two militants. One of the tankers was destroyed during the fighting.[3]

• Unidentified gunmen sabotaged a government convoy in Sarwah, Ma’rib, 200 km east of Sana’a, on November 16 in an attempt to steal power turbines en route to a power plant in Safer, Ma’rib. Soldiers from the 14th Armored Brigade and 107th Infantry Brigade thwarted the attack.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab militants attacked an animal market in Buurhakaba, Bay region on November 18, wounding one person. The militants fled after Somali security forces returned fire.[5]

• Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a man in the Hodan district of Mogadishu on November 18. The assassination occurred after a recent wave of targeted killings by al Shabaab militants in the capital, including a November 17 attack on an immigration officer.[6]

• Masked youth stabbed four civilians to death, and wounded several others, during a rampage in Mombasa in Kenya’s Coast Province in response to the November 17 mosque raids in the city. In a separate incident, an armed assailant killed a refugee official at his home near the refugee camp in Hagadera in Kenya’s North Eastern Province. The motive for the attack remains unknown.[7]