SANA’A, Yemen — Suspected al-Qaida gunmen killed six Yemeni officers and soldiers in three separate attacks today, highlighting Yemen’s volatility amid weeks of massive anti-government protests and a “total breakdown” of dialogue between key opposition figures and the country’s embattled president.
The alleged al-Qaida attacks came the same day the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a advised all Americans to consider hopping the next jet out of Yemen due to terrorist threats and mounting civil unrest.
A group of alleged al-Qaida gunmen ambushed a Yemeni army truck early this morning in the region of Marib, about 100 miles west of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, killing four soldiers, according to a government statement. In two other incidents in the southern provinces of Hadramout and Abyan, suspected al-Qaida militants on motorbikes assassinated two national security officers.
Al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist group’s branch in Yemen, launched several attacks on the U.S. from its base in Yemen, including the botched attempt to bomb an airplane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
Protesters and opposition figures said the government is trumping up recent al-Qaida attacks to gain domestic and international support for beleaguered Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been an ally to the U.S. in the battle against al-Qaida.
Saleh, known in Yemen as a tribal strongman who unified Yemen by force, solidified that reputation in recent weeks. In Sana’a’s Tahrir Square, pro-Saleh supporters — who have been sleeping in tents provided by the government since mid-February — were given printed placards emphasizing “stability” and “unity” under Saleh. A professionally printed banner over the camp read, “Disorder is a support for terrorism.”
“Saleh is trying to scare people by saying change is dangerous,” said Zaid al-Aji, a student protester in front of Sana’a University, where thousands of anti-Saleh protesters staged a sit-in for the last three weeks. “But look at where the attacks happened. In Abyan, where people have been fighting the government for 20 years. And in Marib, which has been vocally against Saleh. There will be peace when the regime leaves.”
A government official dismissed protesters’ accusations as “conspiracy theories.”
In the past week, tensions have been high as tens of thousands of anti-Saleh protesters calling for Saleh’s immediate resignation gathered in mass protests in cities and towns across Yemen. After “fruitful talks” with key opposition figures collapsed late last week, Saleh officially rejected the opposition’s proposal Friday for the peaceful transition of power within the year, calling it “unconstitutional.”
“The peaceful and smooth transition of power is not carried out through chaos but through the will of the people expressed through elections,” a presidential press statement said Saturday.
Elections are expected in Yemen in September 2013.
“We are no longer having a dialogue with the president. There has been a total breakdown of talks,” said Dr. Aidroos al-Naqeeb, head of the Yemeni Socialist Party. “We are calling for a peaceful transition of power. Further dialogue can follow that transition.”
In recent weeks, a total of 13 members of parliament, two ministers and several prominent businessmen and tribal sheikhs resigned from Saleh’s ruling party, the General People’s Congress. Many resigned in protest of the government’s use of violence against demonstrators.
Twenty-seven protesters have been killed in the past few weeks, mostly as a result of Yemeni security forces and pro-government thugs firing on demonstrations, according to Amnesty International. Three protesters were killed Friday when government forces fired a missile at demonstrations in a northern province, according to a spokesman for the Houthis, a northern rebel group that has been fighting a civil war with the Yemeni government for the last six years.
“The GPC could have been great, but it has failed. It is no longer listening to the will of the people,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abulahom, a leading member of the ruling party. “It is clear why people would no longer associate themselves with this party.”
The U.S. Embassy’s already austere travel warning advised all U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Yemen, underscoring the difficulties of evacuating Americans who have chosen to stay in Yemen in the case of a crisis. The British Embassy in Sana’a released a similar statement Saturday.
Yemeni politicians, tribal leaders, international diplomats and protesters on the streets seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for what will happen next in Yemen’s simmering unrest.
“We have not reached the tipping point for full revolution yet,” said Mahdi Mohammed, a businessman and anti-Saleh protester. “But it is coming soon. I can feel it.”