The Yemen Post reported today that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has seized control of yet another population center in southern Yemen. The coastal town of Radum in Shabwa province is the latest to fall to AQAP:
Al-Qaeda announced on Saturday that it has taken control of the coastal town of Radum, in the Yemeni southeastern province of Shabwa.
In a statement released today, and confirmed by a security official, Ansar al-Sharia, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda, had taken control today of the Radum town.
The militants moved from Azzan and other areas of Shabwa to Radum, according to the official, who indicated that the militants took control of town gradually.
AQAP controls Azzan in Shabwa province. In the neighboring province of Abyan, the cities of Zinjibar, Al Koud, Ja’ar, and Shaqra are currently run by AQAP. Also, AQAP seized control of Rada’a in Al Baydah in January but later withdrew after negotiating a peace agreement with the local government.
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4 Comments
It was just a matter of time before the AQAP started to push eastward along the coast, there seems to be less Yemeni military opposition to the east compared to the large numbers of Yemeni forces near Zinjibar and Aden. The Rada agreement seems to have stopped the advance northward along with the potential of a AQAP linkup with the northern salafists, which is rather good news given that it would have divided the country in half.
Military effort on jihadist terrorists in yemen and afghanistan and pakistan must continue until victory on islamic terrorism
I wonder what the foreign manpower metric looks like?
Its rather hard to say what the percentages of foreigners Islamist in Yemen is, but it is a very significant presence. There have been individuals from all over the world killed in Yemen fighting with AQAP, and there have been reports of large movements of Somalis from al-shabab moving to Yemen to join the AQAP. Some reports give figures of 300 – 500 hundred al-shabab arriving in Yemen during this month alone. Somali refugees have been fleeing to Yemen for years, so its relatively easy for militants to slip into Yemen disguised as refugees. Occasionally American naval patrols have picked up and seized militants attempting to transit to and from Yemen and Somalia.