Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has claimed credit for three attacks targeting both the Yemeni military and the Shiite Houthi rebels that took place between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. These latest three attacks took place in Shabwa and Sana’a provinces.
On Sept. 30, locals in Shabwa province’s southern Azzan region, about 70 kilometers from the coast, reported that an improvised explosive device (IED) had injured four Yemeni soldiers. Eyewitnesses said the four soldiers were taken to a local hospital for treatment and noted that two of the injured soldiers were “in serious condition.” Local media reports indicated that this attack was likely carried out by AQAP.
The following day, AQAP released a statement taking credit for the IED attack in Shabwa, and claimed that two soldiers had been killed and three others wounded. The statement added that AQAP had planted an IED near a Yemeni military gathering point in Azzan and detonated the explosive as a group of Yemeni soldiers passed by its location at 1 p.m.
AQAP also took credit for two additional attacks executed on Oct. 1. The first of the two attacks, according to the AQAP statement released the same day, took place in Sana’a, as AQAP fighters tossed a hand grenade at a Houthi patrol car as it drove along Airport Road in Sana’a. AQAP did not provide much detail about the outcome of the attack, but said that Houthis had “fallen injured” as a result of the attack.
AQAP’s second attack on Oct. 1 was an ambush operation carried out in Shabwa province that targeted the Yemeni military. AQAP stated that mujahideen opened fire on a military supply truck in the Malbujah region of Shabwa as it was driving along the Gol al Raydah-Rudhoum road. Two soldiers were immediately killed, according to the AQAP statement, and two others were injured. The mujahideen also made an attempt to advance towards the truck and “finish off the remaining injured soldiers who hastened to run away” before they burned the truck and withdrew from the area.
The terror group noted that this latest ambush in Shabwa took place on the same road on which AQAP fighters had staged ambushes for the Yemeni military earlier in the week. On Sept. 29, AQAP carried out an identical operation on the Gol al Raydah-Rudhoum road and claimed to have killed five soldiers and injured three others.
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