Qaeda claims recent attack on Tunisia minister’s home

TUNIS: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said Friday it was responsible for a recent attack on the home of Tunisia´s interior minister that killed four policemen, the first such claim in the country.

"A group of lions... went to cut off the head of the criminal Lotfi Ben Jeddou at his home... and God allowed them to kill a number of his personal guards," an AQIM statement said.

The statement, posted on an Internet forum, said the May 27 attack on the house in the western border region of Kasserine, had also wounded other guards and that weapons had been seized.

It added that Jeddou, who was not in the house, "got away this time, but he won´t the next."

And it said that "entering into open war against Islam and its partisans to please the United States, France or Algeria, will cost dearly."

Meanwhile, the interior ministry said two terrorists were killed by national guardsmen during an operation Friday in the Jendouba region to the north, and that other "terrorists" were being hunted.

Several militants and members of the security forces were killed in Jendouba in February and March.

 

‘Qaeda’ gunmen kill 12 Yemen soldiers, civilian: security

ADEN: Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 12 Yemeni soldiers and a civilian on Thursday in a southern province where troops have been battling the militants since late April, a security official said.

The militants attacked a checkpoint near the Shabwa province village of Bayhan with automatic rifles, also wounding a number of soldiers, the official said.

The army has been engaged in a major ground offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan province in a bid to expel it from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012.

Yemen says 500 Qaeda militants killed in 5-week offensive

SANAA: Yemeni forces have killed 500 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in an all-out offensive against them in their southern strongholds that began on April 29, the army spokesman said Thursday.

Forty soldiers were killed and another 100 wounded in the operation in the provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, in which 39 militants were captured, Colonel Saeed al-Fakeih told reporters. "We will press on with our war against Al-Qaeda, especially in the regions that (militants) fled to," he said.

The army launched the offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan in a bid to expel its forces from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012.Troops and militia have entered a series of towns, but analysts say their advances could be the result of a tactical retreat by the militants in coordination with local tribes.

Taking advantage of a collapse of central authority during a 2011 uprising that forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, Al-Qaeda seized large swathes of the south and east.

They remain deeply entrenched in Hadramawt province further east, where they have carried out a series of spectacular attacks in recent months.

Army kills 37 Qaeda suspects in south Yemen: ministry

ADEN: Yemen’s army killed 37 Al-Qaeda suspects and wounded dozens on Sunday as part of an offensive launched in the south of the country last week, the defence ministry said.

The "terrorists" were killed in an operation that took place in the Maifaa region of Shabwa province in southern Yemen, the ministry said in text messages sent to journalists. (AFP)

US commander fears full exit from Afghanistan could bolster Qaeda

Admiral William McRaven. – File Photo

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda's core leadership in Pakistan has been seriously weakened, but the potential withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan could trigger a resurgence of the terror network, a top US commander said Thursday.
The warning came from the head of special operations command, Admiral William McRaven, known for overseeing the 2011 raid by Navy SEAL commandos that killed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani compound.
“If we do go to zero, and there is no special operations component left in Afghanistan, it will certainly make it more difficult to be able to deal with the threat, ...and the potential resurgence of al Qaeda in the area,” McRaven told the House Armed Services Committee.
He said the danger posed by al Qaeda is “inherent within the federally administered tribal areas (in Pakistan), and in the northern part of Afghanistan, in Kunar and Nuristan (provinces).”
While most US-led forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan by the end of the year, Washington favors leaving a small force of up to 10,000 to train Afghan troops and counter al Qaeda in the region.
But Afghan President Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign a bilateral security agreement that sets the legal framework for Nato troops to stay.
The Pentagon has begun planning for a full withdrawal, while US officials hope that a new president due to be elected in an April vote may be more willing to sign the security deal.
US officials privately acknowledge that retaining a military presence in eastern Afghanistan is vital for the continued use of air bases and intelligence operations needed for drone attacks against terror suspects in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Assessing the threat posed by al Qaeda, McRaven told lawmakers that the group's core “has gotten markedly weaker” while affiliate groups are surging in Yemen, North Africa, Iraq and Syria.
“So the threat is metastasizing. It is much more broad,” he said.
But he said the danger presented by al Qaeda to the US “homeland” was less than it was five or ten years ago, with “one or two exceptions.