US embassy bombed in Yemeni capital

The US embassy in Yemen was attackedby two cars, witnesses said [AFP]
At least 16 people have been killed in an attack on the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa by a suicide bomber and armed fighters, the country’s interior ministry has said.

• A suicide bomber on Wednesday morning drove a car close to the embassy before detonating his explosives, witnesses said, leaving part of the building on fire.
• Armed men then attacked the embassy from a second car, they said.
• Six guards, four civilians and six attackers died in the assault, the interior ministry said.
• A group called Islamic Jihad in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to target the British, Emirati and Saudi embassies in Sanaa, reports say.
• From Safhaat - an Islamist Website
  

Islamic Jihad - Yemen: Statement about Sanaa Bombing

17 September 2008

"We, the organization of Islamic Jihad in Yemen declare our responsibility for the suicide attack on the American embassy in Sanaa,"

"We will carry out the rest of the series of attacks on the other embassies that were declared previously, until our demands are met by the Yemeni government."

(not to be confused with Islamic Jihad in several other places)

The Rest @ The Vancouver Sun

They have threatened attacks before that were carried out by

My Best Guess as to Next Embassy Targets, in order of priority

• Embassies in the Arabian Peninsula, in Countries other than Saudi Arabia
• Embassies in Mauritania (AQIM)
• Embassies in Turkey
• Embassies in Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad

September 17th Ambush at the Gates of the US Embassy in Yemen

16 dead in car bomb, ambush at US Embassy in Yemen

This is classic Al Qeda Tactics

-Shimron

By AHMED AL-HAJ – 1 hour ago

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

The U.S. said no Americans were hurt.

• Multiple explosions rang out outside the heavily-guarded facility, and gunfire raged for at least 10 minutes at the concrete checkpoints that ring the compound.
• The dead included six attackers, six Yemeni guards and four civilians, the state news agency SABA reported.
• Security officials said people lined up for visas were among those killed or wounded.
• It was the deadliest attack on a compound that has been targeted four times in recent years by bombings, mortars and shootings.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has struggled to put down al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants, often to the frustration of U.S. counterterrorism officials.

Just last month, the State Department allowed the return of non-essential personnel and family members who had been ordered to leave after a volley of mortars targeted the embassy. The attack instead hit a girls high school next door, killing a Yemeni security guard and wounding more than a dozen girls.

In the 9:15 am attack Wednesday, gunmen in a vehicle attacked a checkpoint outside the embassy with RPGs and automatic weapons, Yemeni security officials said.

During the assault, suicide bombers in a vehicle made it through the checkpoint and hit a second, inner ring of concrete blocks, and detonated, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

• SABA, citing an unidentified Interior Ministry official, reported that two suicide car bombs detonated and made no mention of a gunbattle.
• A senior U.S. official in Washington said at least five detonations were heard — but embassy officials spoke of "secondary explosions," suggesting some could have been RPG blasts.
• Some of the attackers were dressed as Yemeni troops, and that Yemeni emergency personnel who first rushed to the scene were hit by heavy sniper fire from gunmen who had stationed themselves across the street from the embassy.

Yemeni security officials said a little-known group called Islamic Jihad, unrelated to the Palestinian group of the same name, claimed responsiblity for the attack. But Yemeni authorities have blamed the group in past attacks that have later been claimed by al-Qaida in postings on the Internet.

The explosions hit passers-by and damaged a nearby residential compound where many Westerners live.

• Smoke rose from near the yellow concrete blocks that ring the embassy.
  
• Ryan Gliha, an embassy spokesman, told The Associated Press that at least one car bomb detonated. Speaking by telephone from inside the large embassy compound, he could not immediately say if there was any damage to the facility from the blast outside.
• At least seven wounded civilians, including children from nearby houses, were taken to the capital's Republican Hospital, a medical official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

American officials were also alarmed when Yemeni courts commuted a death sentence for Jamal al-Badawi, convicted of masterminding the Cole attack, giving him instead 15 years in prison.

The Rest @ The Associated Press

Mauritanian Coup Leaders Blame AQIM for Ambush of Army Patrol Near Zouerat

Al-Qaeda-linked group kills 12 Mauritanian soldiers: security source
1 day ago

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Members of Al-Qaeda's north African branch killed a dozen Mauritanian soldiers on Monday as they patrolled in the northern part of the country, a security official told AFP.

Members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), ambushed the unit when they were 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of the mining town of Zouerat, the source said.

• The official did not know how many people were injured in the attack -- the country's deadliest in three years --
• but said 10 soldiers managed to return to base afterwards
• Reinforcements had been sent to the area near the Moroccan border.
• Seven people were injured in the ambush, including one seriously.
  

But another security source urged caution: "For now, we have to assume they are missing. We must wait for more information before we can talk about who has died or disappeared."

Opposition politicians blamed the ruling military junta for the attack, suggesting they were more interested in retaining the control they acquired during an August coup than defending their country.

"The army leaders left the borders defenceless against armed groups and brought the military to Nouakchott to defend their powers," opposition lawmaker Khalil Ould Teyeb said at a press conference.

His criticism drew a quick retort from pro-coup deputy Moustapha Ould Abeiderrahmane.
"Our country is victim of an ignoble attack and regardless of our political positions, there are some red lines we cannot cross," he said.

• Last month a statement by AQIM appeared on the Internet condemning the August 6 military coup in Mauritania and urging the Mauritanian people "to prepare for war."
• The suspected head of Al-Qaeda in Mauritania, El Khadim Ould Esseman, also urged the country's Muslims not to recognise the ruling military junta, calling it an "infidel regime."

Faced with a mounting threat from Islamic militants, security in Nouakchott was beefed up in the last three days, with checkpoints set up along the capital city's main crossroads.

Monday's ambush took place near Zouerat, "the iron capital," where the national industry and mining company, SNIM, employs a large number of foreign workers.

It also came as the African Union's security and peace commissioner, Ramdane Lamamra, was to meet coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to try to broker an end to the country's constitutional crisis.

More than 30 suspected Islamic militants are being held in Mauritania in connection with the attacks IN April, 2008.

The Rest @ AFP Google

Where do the North African Mujahadin go to Bosnia when leaving Iraq?

Security forces have detected a new trend starting this spring: Dozens of foreign fighters leaving Iraq have found refuge in Bosnia-Herzegovina rather than returning home, according to two senior European anti-terrorism officials. The veterans are assisted by an infrastructure of Arab militants who obtained Bosnian passports after fighting there in the 1990s, officials said.

“They go from Iraq to Bosnia and stay there awhile,” an anti-terrorism official said. “They are mainly North Africans. It’s not easy, but they enter Bosnia and live semi-clandestinely with the help of the mujahedin who have always been there. Eventually some show up in countries like France or Italy.”

The Rest @ Douglas Farah

More @ The Los Anglese California Times

Islamic Emirate of Somalia - The Leaders by Name

"The administration should include the local clans," he told Garowe Online. It is only "composed of al Shabaab and some former members of the Islamic Courts."
According to the Somaliweyn Media Center, the administration in Kismayo will be broken down as follows:

Provincial Commissioner: Sheikh Abubakar Al Zeylici (Shabaab)
Deputy Commissioner: Abdulqani Mohamed Yussuf (Shabaab)
Head of Security: Abdurahman Ali Ahmed (Shabaab)
Deputy Head of Security: Mohamed Sahal Eidle (Shabaab)
Finance Secretary: Abdiweli Adan Dheriyow (Islamic Courts)
Deputy Finance Secretary: Abraham Ahmed Isse (Islamic Courts)
Head of Islamic Protocol: Khalid Mohamed Adan (Islamic Courts)
Deputy Head of Islamic Protocol: Adurahman Ahmed Adan (Islamic Courts)
Information Secretary: Sheikh Hassan Yacqub Ali (Shabaab)
Deputy Information Secretary: Abdifath Abraham Ali (Shabaab

Islamic Emirate of Somalia breaking away from Somalia

Leaders of Shabaab, the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia, stated Friday that the group is preparing for the establishment of an Islamic Emirate and that an announcement is expected within days. The statement came as the group consolidated power in the Lower Juba region, which borders Kenya, and formed a sharia-based administration in Kismayo.Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, who is also known as Abu Mansur, and top leader Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Qalaf told a Paltalk forum organized by the radical al Qimmah Forum that fighters "are close to uniting their ranks" and would integrate under the rule of the Islamic Emirate of Somalia. They said that the formation of the emirate is "imminent" and that an announcement would be made "very soon."..

The Rest @ The Longware Journal.