01/16/10
Yemen: Al Qaeda Military Chief Killed by
Burning Underwear and Yemen Airstrike, but Mostly by Airstrike
Friday , January 15, 2010
Qassim al-Raimi, military chief of Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula, speaks in a video posted on
Islamist Web sites. Al-Raimi was reportedly killed
in an airstrike in Yemen Friday.
Yemeni warplanes killed six Al Qaeda operatives Friday near a
desert village bordering Saudi Arabia, including a senior military leader who
plotted to assassinate the U.S. ambassador, security officials said.
Four of those killed were on Yemen's list of most-wanted Al Qaeda figures,
including Qassim al-Raimi, who was considered the top military chief in the
terrorist network's offshoot in Yemen.
"Two cars carrying eight dangerous Al Qaeda members were hit in an area between
Saada and al-Jouf," a Yemeni security official told Reuters. "Two may have
survived and escaped."
Al-Raimi, who is considered the No. 3 leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, was the target of a U.S. airstrike in December but escaped unharmed.
The Yemeni government has targeted him at least three times in recent weeks.
Friday's airstrike hit near the village of Yatama, about 118 miles northeast of
the capital, San'a, security officials said. They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.
Yemen has emerged as a vital training ground for Islamic militants, but the
country's government has increased pressure on Al Qaeda operatives this year in
the wake of the botched Christmas Day terror attack on a U.S. airliner.
U.S. officials say the man who attempted to set off a chemical explosive on
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in December was trained and armed by Al Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula during his visits to Yemen.
With the help of U.S. counterterrorism aid and training, Yemen has launched
airstrikes and deployed thousands of troops to the areas where the group has
established footholds among sympathetic tribes.
The group, a merger of Al Qaeda's wings in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, is led by
Nasser al-Wahayshi, a Yemeni who was once Usama bin Laden's secretary. Wahayshi
and al-Raymi were among 23 militants who escaped from a jail in Yemen's capital
of Sana in 2006.
Al-Raimi had been convicted in 2005 and sentenced to five years in prison for
plotting a bomb attack in the capital's diplomatic quarter and planning to
assassinate the American ambassador. Neither plot was carried out.
Also among the dead in Friday's strike was Ammar al-Waeli, who was accused of
involvement in a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists
and two Yemenis visiting a temple in central Yemen.
Al-Waeli was also suspected of having a role in the kidnapping of a German
family and a British man who disappeared in June and have yet to be found.
Friday's airstrike took place along the edge of Jouf province, one of three
provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to have its strongest presence in the
country. At the beginning of January, Yemen sent thousands of troops to Jouf and
the two other provinces, Marib and Abyan.
* * * * *
About the Yemeni Air Force: Before Yemen was unified in 1990, there was the West-oriented North Yemen and the Soviet-oriented South Yemen, thus the present-day Air Force has a mix of Russian-made MiG-29 and SU-22 fighters, plus some U.S.-made F-5s. They also have a few transport aircraft and helicopters, again mostly soviet models. Although Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, their small Air Force is said to be maintained and flown competently.
Mikoyan
Gureyvich MiG-29 "Fulcrum" (USSR)
Northrup F-5 "Freedom Fighter" (US)
This briefing has been UNCLASSIFIED.
Are there any questions?
Damn, I miss doing this shit !
