Sana’a: Yemen ministry of interior has said that it will categorise militants who blow up oil and gas pipelines and attack electricity towers as “terrorists” who serve the interest of Al Qaida in the country.

The ministry recently said in a statement on its website that the attackers “directly serve the agendas of Al Qaida”, threatening to prosecute them as members of Al Qaida.

Armed tribesmen frequently attack oil and electricity facilities mainly in the restive province of Mareb to pressure the government to release incarcerated relatives or provide jobs. Experts say that the ministry does not need to issue this measure since the country has laws that are able to deter attackers.

Colonel Abdul Ghani Al Wajeeh, a security commentator at Al Thawra daily, told Gulf News that the ministry must first activate the current laws.

“The ministry of interior should enforce the current strong laws that prescribe death sentences to such crimes.”

Al Wajeeh said that attackers usually feel encouraged to go on their attacks when they find that the government [is willing to] negotiate with them. He suggested that the ministry should begin prosecuting them even in absentia.

“The ministry knows the names of those who keep attacking electricity facilities and oil pipelines and has never put them on trial. They should be tried in absentia. This will be a lesson to the others.”

Many cities in Yemen, including the capital, have seen long power outages due to attacks on electricity towers in Mareb. Attacks on gas and oil pipelines have also had made a big dent in country’s revenues from oil shipments.

Local media has reported that for the first time an armed woman called Raiysa blew up an oil pipeline to demand that the government free a relative in Sana’a. The woman dug the earth for the buried pipeline and fired bullets with her AK 47.

Meanwhile, tension has recently risen in the same province where government forces accidently shot dead two members of Al Shabwan tribe in the city of Mareb. Police on May 9 killed the two in the capital after suspecting them of being members of Al Qaida. Angered by the killing, members of the victims’ tribe attacked military posts and oil and gas facilities in the province. A committee formed by president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi found out that the two people had nothing to do with Al Qaida and the police put them under surveillance when they contacted some Al Qaida members from their tribe.

A local journalist told Gulf News yesterday that Hadi telephoned the tribe on Tuesday and agreed to put on trial the six soldiers who killed the men and a person who misled the police.

“The tribe demanded immediate verdict on the case and agreed to remove their checkpoints and stop attacking oil facilities,” the journalist said.