2009 Shibam bombing | |
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Part of the al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen | |
Location | Khazzan hill, Shibam, Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen |
Coordinates | 15°55′04″N48°37′57″E / 15.9177°N 48.6324°E |
Date | 15 March 2009 c. 5:50 p.m. AST (UTC+03:00) |
Target | South Korean tourists |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Deaths | 6 (including the perpetrator) |
Injured | 3 |
Perpetrator | Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula |
Two suicide bombings took place in March 2009 targeting nationals of South Korea in Yemen. The first, which occurred on 15 March, targeted a group of South Korean tourists visiting the city of Shibam in Hadhramaut Governorate. The bomber detonated an explosive belt as he was taking a picture with the tourists, killing four of them along with their Yemeni tour guide and injuring three more. On 18 March, another suicide bomber attempted to attack a convoy of South Korean investigators and relatives of the victims in Sanaa, though the bombing failed and resulted in no casualties expect for the perpetrator. Both attacks were claimed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
AQAP was formed two months prior to the attack in a merger of al-Qaeda's branches in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia. [1] Leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen had frequently called upon attacks against non-Muslim foreigners within the Arabian Peninsula. [2] The group had previously launched a suicide bombing killing Spanish tourists in Marib in July 2007 and an attack on a convoy of Belgian tourists travelling through Wadi Dawan in January 2008, the latter being approximately 2.5 miles from Shibam. [3] [4]
Shibam, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Yemen for its tall mud-brick buildings built in the 16th century. [5]
The attack targeted a group of 16 South Korean tourists as well as two travel agency staff travelling through Shibam a via a convoy of jeeps. [6] [7] It occurred as the convoy had reached the Khazzan hill which overlooks the city. [8] While viewing the sunset from the hill, a teenager and a man in his early forties claiming to be his father approached the tourists and began a conversation with them. [9] The teenager asked to be photographed with the tourists, to which they obliged. [10] At around 5:50 p.m. AST (UTC+3), [7] [9] the teenager detonated an explosive belt [11] while posing with the tourists in front of the cities buildings. [6] [5] The blast was strong enough to be heard more than 2 miles away in the al-Qubah district of Shibam. [4] The remaining tourists were transferred to a nearby hospital immediately after the attack. [7]
The blast killed four tourists, two men and two women, and injured an additional four South Koreans. [5] The killed tourists were identified as 70-year-old Park Bong-gan, 64-year-old Kim In-hye, 59-year-old Joo Yong-cheol and 55-year-old Shin Hye-yoon. The latter two were reportedly a married couple. [7]
A Yemeni tour guide wounded in the attack later died of his injuries in hospital, raising the death toll to five. [12] The number of injuries was later revised to three tourists. [13]
An initial report on the attack from the state-sponsored Saba News Agency suggested that the bomber was "tricked into wearing an explosives vest." [6] However, in their claim of responsibility, AQAP stated that the perpetrator "carried out a martyrdom-seeking operation" and referred to him as "Abu Obeida al-Jarrah." [2] [14]
Conflicting reports emerged of the bomber's identity, [15] one report identifying him as Ali Muhsin al-Ahmad, a 19-year-old Yemeni from Taiz who travelled to Somalia in January to train for the attack. Before the attack, the bomber allegedly wrote a letter to his mother stating that his family would never see him again and that he was on the "true path." [16] [15]
The Yemeni government immediately launched an inquiry after the bombing. [8] A local official initially suggested that the blast could have been due to remnants of dynamite from a mine or a pre-planted bomb, though later confirmed to be an AQAP suicide attack. [17] [11] A local newspaper reported that the remains of an unidentified man believed to be the perpetrator were found at the site. [11] [18] The Yemeni government announced on 18 March that they had detained 12 Islamists apart of groups which may have information on the actual perpetrator of the bombing. [18]
The South Korean government called an emergency meeting in the aftermath of the attack. [12] South Korean foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan sent condolences to the victims of the attack and called for a thorough investigation into it during a phone call with Yemeni foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qurbi. [13] [19] The Ministry announced that it would issue a travel advisory across all of Yemen after the attack, urging its citizens to leave. [7] [12]
March 2009 Sanaa bombing | |
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Part of the al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen | |
Location | Sanaa International Airport, Sanaa, Sanaa Governorate, Yemen |
Date | 18 March 2009 c. 8:40 a.m. AST (UTC+03:00) |
Target | South Korean convoy |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Deaths | 1 (perpetrator) |
Injured | 0 |
Perpetrator | Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula |
On 18 March, a suicide bomber attacked a three-vehicle South Korean convoy heading to the International Airport in Sanaa. The convoy was composed of a team sent by the South Korean government to investigate the bombing, which included two foreign ministry officials and representatives of the national police and intelligence service, as well as relatives of the killed tourists. [20] The bomber, a 20-year-old student according to his identity card recover at the scene, [6] was waiting by the gates of the al-Dailami Air Base, which shares a runway with the airport. [21] When the convoy arrived at the road to the airport, [22] at 8:40 a.m. AST the bomber walked into the road between two of the vehicles and blew himself up. [23] [24] However, the bomber detonated his explosive belt seconds after the convoy had passed resulting in zero harm against the passengers, although the front window of one of the vehicles was shattered. [20] [25]
On 26 March, Yemeni authorities arrested six of the 12 suspects in the Shibam bombing, claiming that they were AQAP members who were involved in the Sanaa attack on the South Korean convoy as well as 10 other plots to attack foreign tourists and oil facilities. [26] The government stated that the other six suspects were still being hunted, with photos of them being publicized on television and newspapers and bounties being announced for them. [27] [26]
AQAP claimed responsibility for the Shibam bombing through an internet message on 26 March. [2] The group stated that they had targeted South Koreans due to their country's support for the war on terror. [2] It also called the attack revenge for the killing of Hamza al-Quaiti, the leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Soldier's Brigade of Yemen, in August 2008. [28] The group later claimed responsibility for the Sanaa bombing in April, claiming that the attack was meant to highlight the Yemeni government's inability to protect South Koreans. [29]
In its war on terrorism in Yemen, the US government describes Yemen as "an important partner in the global war on terrorism". There have been attacks on civilian targets and tourists, and there was a cargo-plane bomb plot in 2010. Counter-terrorism operations have been conducted by the Yemeni police, the Yemeni military, and the United States Armed Forces.
Mukalla, officially the Mukalla City District, is a seaport and the capital city district of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, about 480 kilometres east of Aden. It is the most important port city in the Hadhramaut region. It is also the sixth-largest city in Yemen, with a population of approximately 595,000 as of 2023. The city is served by the nearby Riyan International Airport.
On 15 September 2006, four militants attempted suicide attacks on two different oil facilities in Yemen. Two militants each driving car bombs attempted to target an oil storage facility at the Canadian-Yemeni al-Dhabba Port in Hadhramaut governorate, but their vehicles exploded prematurely after security opened fire on them, killing a guard. Another two militants tried car bombing the Safer oil refinery in Marib governorate shortly after, though they too were killed before their vehicles could reach the target. The attacks were claimed by al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY).
The following is a list of attacks which have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP is a Sunni Islamist militant organization which seeks to overthrow the Yemeni government and establish an Islamic emirate. Part of the al-Qaeda network, the group is based and primarily active in Yemen, while also conducting operations in Saudi Arabia. It is considered the most active of al-Qaeda's affiliates that emerged after the weakening of central leadership.
On 2 July 2007, a car bomber drove into a convoy of Spanish tourists visiting the Queen of Sheba temple near Marib in Marib Governorate, Yemen. The suicide bombing killed eight tourists along with two of their Yemeni drivers. Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack.
Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Raymi was a Yemeni militant who was the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Raymi was one of 23 men who escaped in the 3 February 2006 prison-break in Yemen, along with other notable al-Qaeda members. Al-Raymi was connected to a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists. In 2009, the Yemeni government accused him of being responsible for the running of an al-Qaeda training camp in Abyan province. After serving as AQAP's military commander, al-Raymi was promoted to leader after the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi on 12 June 2015.
Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri was a citizen of Saudi Arabia suspected of being chief bomb-maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was reported to have been responsible for making the bombs used by his brother Abdullah al-Asiri in his suicide bombing, the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, and the May 8th 2012 Terror Plot.
The Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is an ongoing armed conflict between the Yemeni government, the United States and their allies, and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
On 21 May 2012, a suicide bomber attacked Yemeni soldiers hereasing for annual Unity Day military parade in Sana'a, Yemen. The attack, which unsuccessfully targeted Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, killed at least 96 soldiers and wounded 222, making it one of the worst in Yemen's history. The bombing was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula affiliate Ansar al-Sharia.
The 2012 Abyan offensive was an offensive by the Yemeni military against Islamist militant forces, possibly including elements of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in the province of Abyan with the purpose of re-capturing the militant-held towns of Zinjibar and Jaʿār.
Jama'at Ansar al-Shari'a, also known as Ansar al-Shari'a, is a Yemen-based umbrella organization which includes units from several militant Islamic groups of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). In 2011, AQAP created Ansar Al-Sharia as a Yemen-based affiliate focused on waging an insurgency rather than international attacks on the West. In the view of the International Crisis Group, AQAP is "an internally diverse organisation with varying layers of support among the local population" and many AAS members and allies are not committed to AQAP's international agenda.
The Battle of Radda was a military confrontation in March 2013, initially launched by Al-Qaeda in an apparent reprisal for the Yemen army's offensive against their stronghold of al-Manasseh following the collapse of talks to free the three Western hostages believed to be held in the area, of whom a Finnish couple and an Austrian man who were studying Arabic in Yemen, when they were snatched by local tribesmen in the capital city of Sanaa, where they were then sold to al-Qaeda militants and transferred to the southern province of al-Bayda, where the city of al-Manasseh is located.
On 5 December 2013, a coordinated terrorist attack occurred targeting the Ministry of Defense complex in Sana'a, Yemen. Heavily armed militants utilized a car bomb to breach the gates of the complex before storming it and occupying a hospital within it. The attack, which killed 52 people and injured 167, was claimed by Ansar al-Sharia, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). AQAP later issued an apology for the attack after footage from within the hospital was broadcast showing the gunmen murdering medical personnel.
"Yemeni crisis (2011–present)" refers to events of the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, the Yemeni revolution, the Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen and the South Yemen insurgency.
The 2015 Sana'a mosque bombings were four suicide attacks targeting two mosques on 20 March 2015 in Sana'a, Yemen.
The Aden unrest was a conflict between Islamist factions, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's Yemen Branch, against the loyalists of president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and later to conflict between UAE-backed and Saudi-backed factions within the coalition. In 2017, fighting also broke out between factions aligned with different members of the Saudi-led coalition namely Saudi Arabia-backed Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Al-Islah and UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council and Southern Movement.
The Hadramaut insurgency was an insurgency in Yemen launched by AQAP and ISIL-YP against forces loyal to president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY), also known as al-Qaeda in the Land of Yemen (AQLY) and al-Qaeda in the Southern Arabian Peninsula (AQSAP) in its later iteration, was a Sunni Islamist militant organization which existed between 1998 to 2003, and 2006 to 2009.
On 18 January 2008, a convoy of Belgian tourists was ambushed while travelling through the Wadi Dawan in Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen. The convoy was attacked by four gunmen waiting in a pickup truck, killing two tourists and two Yemeni drivers, along with injuring four others. The attack was claimed by the Jund al-Yemen Brigades, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY).