The British embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa closed its doors after one or more al Qaeda suicide bombers attacked the ambassador's convoy outside the heavily fortified building and its gunmen were repelled by embassy guards. According to first reports, one person was killed, but Ambassador Tim Torlot is safe.
Counter-terror sources report that the security situation in the Red Sea republic has deteriorated substantially despite the Yemeni offensive to crush al Qaeda strongholds in the country backed by US and British military and intelligence strength. One cause,
according to intelligence sources, is the extra boost al Qaeda gained from US funds
which Yemen president Abdullah Ali Salah secretly diverted to the Islamists in the
mistaken hope that they would remove their bases from Yemen and relocate in Somalia.
Failing to eradicate the al Qaeda presence by force, Salah summoned the tribal
chiefs harboring al Qaeda centers and through them offered to pay the Islamists to
leave the country. The bribe of an estimated $15-20 million was accepted al Qaeda leaders, presenting themselves to the Somali Al-Shebab Islamist rebels as emissaries of Al Qaeda
in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), turned up in Somalia to scout suitable areas under rebel control for new bases, their pockets well lined with US dollars to pay for their lease.
Our counter-terror sources report that the al Qaeda group, which is still traveling
around Somalia, has no intention of liquidating its bastions in Yemen, but is using the
windfall for expansion to Somalia.
US intelligence has long been aware of the operational and logistic ties between AQAP and
the Somali movement. Investigation of the failed Detroit-bound airliner bombing last
Christmas by the Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab disclosed that he set out on
his suicide mission from Somalia, not Yemen, as previously reported, and there
too he picked up the elements of the explosive charge hidden in his pants.
The attack on the British diplomatic convoy in Sanaa was not unexpected. Some days
ago, the Foreign Office issued an advisory against travel to Yemen "due to the high
threat of terrorism, kidnapping and tribal violence against western and
British interests."
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