Suicide bomber in operation against tourists identified

Sana'a: A suicide bomber who carried out a terrorist operation against tourists in eastern Yemen last month was identified yesterday as Abdo Mohammad Sa'ad Ahmad Ruhiqa, security sources said.

Ruhiqa, 21, used to live in a neighbourhood in Sana'a called Musaik, where many jihadists and Al Qaida suspects are believed to be staying.

None of the 10-member group that have been accused of planning and preparing for the operation have been arrested so far.

"The suicide terrorist bomber who implemented the operation in Marib was Abdo Mohammad Sa'ad Ahmad Ruhiqa ... he was born on March 20, 1986," the state-run newspaper on September 26 quoted an unidentified security official as saying.

"He was living in the neighbourhood of Musaik in Sana'a where he was recruited by the terrorist Hamza Ali Saleh Al Dhayani who trained him to drive his taxi."

Operation

The official added that Ruhiqa was taken to Wadi Obaida in Mareb where the terrorist group which planned and prepared for the implementation of the operation was hiding.

"This group comprised of the terrorists Nasser Abdul Kareem Al Wahaishi, Mohammad Saleh Al Kazmy, Qasim Yahya Mahdi Al Raimi, Ali Bin Ali Nasser Dawha, Hamza Salem Omar Bin Salem Al Kuaiti, Amar Obada Masoud Al Jubary Al Waeli," the official said.

Earlier, the government announced a bounty of $75,000 (about Dh275,000) for information that can lead to the arrest of the whole group or one of them.

Nasser Al Wahaishi and Qasim Al Raimi, the two alleged leaders of the new generation of Al Qaida in Yemen, are among eight men still at large, out of 23 Al Qaida suspects who escaped from an intelligence prison in Sana'a early last year.

This group prepared and directly supervised the implementation of the operation, the official said.

The terrorists Nayef Mohammad Al Qahtani, a Saudi national, as well as Naji Ali Saleh Jaradan and Ali Bin Ali Nasser Al Dawha, from Mareb province, provided shelter and protection for members of the terrorist cell who carried out the operation.

Locals

The two locals Jaradan and Dawha have also been accused of assassinating Ali Mohammad Qusaila, director of the criminal investigation bureau in Mareb province.

The security official made it clear that Ahmad Dowidar Basuiny, an Egyptian national jihadist, who was killed in a security raid on his house in Sana'a a few days after the Mareb suicide operation, provided logistical support for the group.

The DNA tests of body parts found at the place of the incident have been compared with members of the family and it has been confirmed that he carried out the operation, the official said.

The official also said that security agencies have very important information, which will help them arrest the whole group.

Meanwhile, several people were lightly injured in Aden south of Yemen yesterday as security forces dispersed disgruntled demonstrators by firing live bullets and tear gas, said eyewitnesses.

Military and security officers claiming they were retired and sacked from their positions illegally after the 1994 civil war, organised the demonstration to demand their rights without prior permission from the government.

Government committees have been formed to discuss and solve the issues of retired people and meet their demands.

Some demonstrators were chanting slogans against unity between south and north and were carrying the flags of the former southern People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and the flag of the State of Kuwait.

The message they wanted to deliver by carrying the Kuwaiti flag was "the north occupied the south" on May 22, 1990, as Iraq occupied Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

The government denied any casualties saying the security forces were only applying the law.

On Wednesday, the government had announced it would not allow any demonstrations or marches in Aden without prior permission from the Ministry of Interior.

Many activists and key demonstrators were arrested including Nasser Al Nawba, the leader of the union of the associations of retired people mostly from military and security in the south who started their demands five months ago.

Al Nawba, who was a prominent commander in the army of the south before unity, called upon the demonstrators to occupy government utilities and vehicles before he was arrested by security forces yesterday.