Last week's attack against the U.S. embassy: a sign of a troubled situation in Yemen

By Olivier Guitta

Jihadists greatly encourage their followers to perpetrate suicide attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. That is why numerous Muslim countries were fearing attacks in September.
Unsurprisingly, al-Qaida pulled off three major attacks in the last week: one in Mauritania that killed 12, one in Yemen against the U.S. embassy and one in Pakistan against the Marriott hotel.
I wrote an article for Asia Times on Yemen.

Here is an excerpt:
In 2003, the Yemeni regime concluded a non-aggression pact with al-Qaeda. But it seems that the deal has been off since the beginning of this year. Appearing officially in January under the label "Al-Qaeda in the south of the Arabian Peninsula - Brigades soldiers of Yemen", the local al-Qaeda branch has already claimed numerous attacks against security forces.

The Italian Embassy was attacked in April, and since then most Western countries have decided to "bunkerize" their buildings in Yemen. The US has reduced its presence in the country to a bare minimum, and the French ambassador has permanent bodyguards, like in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Tourists are strongly advised not to travel to Yemen. Some expatriates are not allowed to venture out of the capital or go to certain neighborhoods, except when they have a specific task and an armed guard.

In the past month, Yemeni authorities have been more aggressive in fighting al-Qaeda's resurgence. In August al-Qaeda leader Hamza al-Quayti, who was one of a gang of 23 that escaped from prison in February 2006, was killed by security forces in eastern Yemen. Other members of his cell were killed during the operation.

The Yemeni Defense Ministry said the activists had formed a cell that "planned to carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen and abroad". Police found explosives, documents and Arab passports (including two Saudi ones). This cell was responsible for an attack that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides in July 2007.

You can read the full article here.

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