| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Yemen: Attack on government facilities cause blackout |
| 2007-08-10 |
| (AKI) - Armed militants in Yemen carried out two separate attacks - against an army post near a government complex and against a power station - in the province of Mareb, north of the capital Sanaa early on Thursday morning. No casualties were reported, but the attack on the power station caused an electricity blackout over the entire Mareb area. According to a report on the local news agency, Mareb Press, the militants used rocket propelled grenades and other explosives on their targets. The Dubai-based Arabic language TV channel Al Arabiya, said the attack could have been linked to an operation carried out by Yemeni security forces on Wednesday against a suspected al-Qaeda hideout in which four militants were killed. The authorities said that the four al-Qaeda militants were involved in an attack that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemen is last month. The Mareb Press news agency however linked Thursday's attack to the death of two members of the Ubeida tribe that were among the four people killed in Wednesday's raid by security forces and that Thursday's attack was carried out by the clan in revenge. Security forces are presiding the Mareb area amid concerns of other possible attacks. Technicians are currently trying to restore electricity supplies as locals have been badly affected by the blackout in Mareb which is experiencing torrid weather . Government sources said on Thursday that the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, Qasim al-Raidi, known also as Abu Hureiera al-Sana'ani, was not among the victims of Wednesday's raid on the militant hideout because he had managed to escape. |
| Posted by:Fred |