Dubai: Al Qaida’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing last week that killed eight people and wounded a senior army commander in the eastern part of the country in an internet posting on Tuesday.
Khaled Batarfi, an Al Qaida leader who was freed from prison last year when Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized Al Mukalla, also criticised the Saudi-led coalition over its role in freeing the Hadramout provincial capital from the militants.
General Abdul Rahman Al Halili, commander of Yemen’s First Military Region which has its headquarters in the city of Seyoun, was wounded last week when a suicide bomber targeted his convoy while he was on a trip to inspect his forces in the Wad Hadramout area.
“God has facilitated for us to target the commander of the First Military Region in Hadramout and to target Zubaidi and Shalal in Aden,” Batarfi said.
He was referring to a previous attack on May 1 on the governor of neighbouring Aden province, Aydarous Al Zubaidi, and the provincial security chief, Shelal Ali Shayyeh.
No one had claimed responsibility for either of these two attacks.
AQAP and its militant rival, Daesh, had exploited the Yemen war to expand their control and enlist new recruits in a campaign that drew concern in the United States and in the Saudi-led Arab alliance that had been trying to shore-up President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi against his Iran-allied Al Houthi enemies.
Concern about militant threats has spurred UN-sponsored peace talks between Al Houthis and Hadi’s government now underway in Kuwait.
The talks are aimed at an agreement that would allow Al Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to evacuate cities they control in northern Yemen and for the formation of a new, more representative government.
Batarfi accused the United States of trying to impose a “new reality” in Yemen.
