MORE THAN 90 Yemeni troops died in a suicide bomb attack in Sanaa yesterday, one of the bloodiest episodes yet in the deepening power struggle between loyalist forces and Islamist militants after the fall of president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Scores more were wounded in the attack, apparently carried out by a soldier as forces gathered near the presidential palace for a rehearsal of a parade on the country’s national day today, government officials said.
The assault underscores the deteriorating security situation in Yemen and the ferocity of the battle for control of the country, just days after President Barack Obama suggested its political transition from dictatorship could be a model for solving Syria’s crisis.
The Sanaa attack – one of the deadliest in the capital for years – left dozens of soldiers bleeding on the ground and scattered body parts over a wide area, news agencies said. The militant group Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for the assault, which it said was a reaction to “crimes” by security forces cracking down bloodily – along with US drones – on Islamists in territory they have occupied in the country’s south.
Hundreds of people have died as President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi – previously Mr Saleh’s deputy – has tried to impose his authority on Yemen since taking over from his former boss in February, after elections held under an internationally brokered peace plan. Already riven by regional tensions and poverty, Yemen has slid further into chaos thanks to splits in the army and broader social divisions during the near year-long battle to oust the obdurate Mr Saleh after 33 years in office.
A US military instructor was seriously wounded in an attack by gunmen in Yemen on Sunday, for which Ansar al-Sharia also claimed responsibility.
Mr Obama had the day before told G8 leaders that Yemen was a good example of a leader leaving power peacefully and ushering in a democratic process, according to Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.
The US has stepped up drone attacks in southern Yemen where the Islamists include members and affiliates of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which US intelligence officials say has been behind plots to bomb western-bound airliners in recent years. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)