Saeed Ali al-Shihri, deputy leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), declared jihad against the Houthi-led northern Shiite insurgents, in an audio broadcast posted on the internet on Friday. "To our Sunni fellows in northern Yemeni provinces of Saada, Al- Jouf and Amran, we (AQAP) announced jihad against Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite advocates.
"The jihad against northern Shiites has been declared since the implementation of the AQAP's twin martyred car bombing attacks against convoys of the Shiite rebels' followers in northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Saada on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 of the last year," said al-Shihri.
Saudi fugitive al-Shihri excused his group's war against the Shiite rebels by saying that the Houthi rebels attacked and displaced many Sunnis in the north.