Gulf of Aden Security Review - December 4, 2014

Yemen: AQAP threatens to execute American hostage; AQAP executes Yemeni hostage and dumps body in Hadramawt; Al Houthis send fighters to Taiz.

Horn of Africa: Suspected al Shabaab militants assassinate former Somali member of parliament; Suspected al Shabaab militants conduct grenade attack in Kenya’s North Eastern Province; al Shabaab claims responsibility for targeted killings in Mogadishu and Kenya’s North Eastern Province.

Yemen Security Brief

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video on December 3 of American journalist Luke Somers held hostage by the group since September 2013. AQAP official Nasser bin Ali al Ansi appeared in the video stating AQAP will execute Luke Somers by the end of the week if the U.S. does not meet AQAP’s demands. Luke Somers was the target of a joint U.S.-Yemeni November 25 attempted hostage operation in Hadramawt.[1] 

• Suspected AQAP militants executed a Yemeni hostage, Rashid Abdullah al Habshi, believed to have been held with Luke Somers, and dumped his body in al Qatn, Hadramawt on December 3. Al Habshi was an officer in the Yemeni National Security Forces before he was kidnapped by AQAP in April 2014.[2]

• Al Houthi militants reportedly sent fighters to Taiz and erected checkpoints along a main road in al Jahmiliya, Taiz on December 3, leading to clashes with military and security forces. The al Houthis’ deployment followed a December 3 assassination of a security official by unidentified gunmen in Taiz.[3] 

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Suspected al Shabaab militants ambushed the vehicle of Somali officials in the Hamar Weyne district of Mogadishu, killing a former member of parliament and three others, as well as injuring a current member of parliament, on December 4.[4]

• Suspected al Shabaab militants threw multiple grenades at a restaurant in Garissa in Kenya’s North Eastern Province on December 3, wounding at least two civilians.[5]

• Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage, also known as Ali Dhere, released a message on December 3  claiming the group’s responsibility for the December 3 attacks on UN and African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) convoys and the December 2 killing of 36 mine workers in Kenya’ North Eastern Province. The message was released on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of Shahada News Agency, a Somalia-focused Jihadist media group.[6]