Yemen suicide attack kills 96
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 21, 2012
At least 96 soldiers were killed and more than 300 injured in a suicide bombing during a military rehearsal parade in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Monday morning, the Yemeni defense ministry said.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attack during a phone interview with Xinhua.
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At least 96 soldiers were killed after a number of suicide bombers targeted the soldiers in al-Sabeen square, a few meters northwest of the presidential palace. |
The death toll could further rise as some of the wounded soldiers are in critical condition, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website, adding that an investigation into the incident is underway.
"I just heard a huge explosion behind us while we were on standby, listening to a speech delivered by the defense minister," a soldier called Yahya Mohammed told Xinhua.
"The attack revealed the scarcity of security measures to protect the soldiers, the capital and the parade ceremony," a security officer said.
"One of our martyrs packing with powerful explosives under his military uniform blew himself up in the midst of a military parade rehearsal early Monday in al-Sabeen Square in Sanaa, which killed more than 100 soldiers and injured hundreds of others," the official spokesman of the al-Qaida military group said.
"The sophisticated operation was designed to target Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed and the U.S. advisers who operate the war against our families in Abyan province in southern Yemen," the spokesman told Xinhua.
"It's our message that we will move the war into Sanaa if the U. S.-backed government insists to continue offensive against us in Abyan," he added.
"While our suicide bomber doing his job near the defense minister, we carried out another military operation in Abyan, during which we seized a military base in Bajidar area outside Abyan's capital city of Zinjibar early Monday," he said.
Abyan, some 480 km south of Sanaa, is the AQAP's main stronghold where the government troops and the terrorists have been fighting for months.
Following the deadly attack Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi sacked two security commanders, who had close relations with ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Hadi also vowed to continue the war on terror despite sacrifices.
"The war on terror will continue until it is completely eradicated no matter what it takes," he said in a written speech aired by the state television on the eve of Yemen's national day of reunification.
He expressed deepest condolences for the victims of the terrorist bombing that targeted soldiers in Sanaa while practicing a military parade scheduled to be held on Tuesday, the 22nd anniversary of the country's reunification between the north and south Yemen.
Hadi said that the government and army will "continue the all-out offensive to defeat the enemies of the nation", referring to the al-Qaida terrorist network in southern the country.
Meanwhile, he also stressed the importance for all Yemeni political parties to engage in the upcoming national reconciliation dialogue, as part of the UN-backed deal that eased former President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power in February after one-year unrest.
Many Yemeni political parties, including the separatist movement in the south and the Houthi Shi'ite rebels in the north condemned the attack in statements posted on their websites.
Local residents in Sanaa expressed anger at the lack of security measures, many of them spoke out their fears for the situation in the capital in the future.
The United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the terrorist attack.
"This criminal act cannot be justified by any cause," Ban's spokesperson said in a statement. "Its perpetrators must be held accountable."
U.S. president Barack Obama said at a press conference at the NATO summit that he was concerned about "about al-Qaeda activity in Yemen, and extremist activity in Yemen."
Obama said the United States has established a "strong counterterrorism partnership" with Yemen will continue working with it to try to identify al-Qaeda in the Araibian Peninsula ( AQAP) leadership and operations in that country.
The United States and Yemen have important cooperation on the fight against al-Qaeda elements in the Arab state. The United States has been carrying out drone attacks in Yemen, which have resulted in the killings of a number of high-profile al-Qaeda members.
John Brennan, Obama's top aid on homeland security and counterterrorism, called Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi earlier in the day, offering U.S. help on the investigation into these attacks and pledged Washington's support.
Monday's attack came one day after the AQAP claimed responsibility for attacking a group of U.S. advisers in the country's western port city of al-Hodayda that left three seriously injured.
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