The Empty Quarter

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All so young.

Traveled to the U.S. with his mother in 1995. Recruited by an ‘Amr Muhsen Hassan al-Mahfli al-Raimi. He was previously wanted and was included in Yemen’s 161 most wanted list…

Al-Ayyam is reporting on the name confusion of the suicide bomber that killed four Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide last Sunday. Apparently, the bomber had a fake I.D. on him…

Strange that the name changed. Perhaps the ID card found was not that of the bomber. It is also unclear whether this article is saying the bomber was a Somali immigrant or Yemeni…

UPDATED: He asked to pose with the Koreans before blasting his body parts over a kilometer away. A witness at the scene says that the boy, who was high on qat, was with an older man in his 40s. News Yemen has also published the names of the victims…

UPDATED: The bombing that killed four South Korean tourists and a Yemeni guide in south-eastern Yemen on Sunday was a suicide attack by a young al-Qaeda operative, security sources said on Monday…

UPDATED: What seems to be known: Four South Korean tourists, two men and two women, were killed after a bombing incident around sunset Sunday evening in the area of Shibam in the governorate of Hadhramout. Information beyond those details seems to be mixed between reports…

Despite what the government claimed after that attack, the shooting of the Belgians seems to have had major ramifications for those in the tourism industry in Hadhramout. This only makes sense. If the government itself hasn’t restricted travel permission to the region, Embassies, foreign businesses and NGOs most likely have…at least for the time being. I don’t know [...]

Well, more like a confirmation. Mukalla Today says the suspects were apprehended on the basis of reports from locals, and confirms that a number of them where caught on the road to Shabwa. The report ends by citing sources that said the “taqfiri terrorists” were from “outside the governorate” (of Hadhramout).

Yemen is saying they have some suspects in the Belgian shooting. There were reports that they rounded up a number of people just after the event occurred, but there was no word that they actually had someone who knew anything. The article from Hadhramout Press says that Yemeni authorities announce the capture of four suspects [...]

Hadhramout is not generally a dangerous place, and the existence of al Qaeda there would definitely be a worrisome development. We now have two high-profile attacks against tourist in a row - which supports the theory that AQ-YemenZ has switched target goals from oil installations to foreign civilians. Just as when the Spaniards were killed, the government appears to have [...]