Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi vowed to fight “terrorism” after a suicide bomber killed 96 soldiers in retaliation for an army offensive against al-Qaeda.
Monday’s attack in the heart of the Yemeni capital, in which about 300 soldiers were injured, came as soldiers were rehearsing for a parade to mark Yemeni unification.
An official said the parade, which had been scheduled to take place yesterday at Sabeen Square — scene of the suicide blast — had been replaced with a “symbolic” ceremony held at the defense and aviation college in Sana’a.
Photo: EPA
The ceremony was attended by Hadi, who made no speech and left soon after the event ended.
Military Chief of Staff Ali al-Ashwal vowed the military would not be deterred from its offensive against the jihadists.
“The barbaric attack on Sabeen Square will not scare us and will not prevent us from going ahead with our war on these evil elements,” he told the ceremony.
“Our war on them will not stop until we free our land,” said al-Ashwal, who was among the officials, including Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, apparently targeted in the attack.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the name given to the group’s Yemen branch, claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said targeted “the defense minister and other leaders of the US war on our people in Abyan” governorate in the south.
“Even if the defense minister and his aides escaped this operation, we will not tire ... we are in a war to defend our blood which is violated in Abyan, and war only breeds war,” it said in a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums.
“The war on terror will continue until it is completely destroyed regardless of the sacrifices,” Hadi said in a statement carried by state news agency Saba after the massive attack, the deadliest since he succeeded Ali Abdullah Saleh as president in February.
Police Colonel Abdul Hamid Bajjash, the officer in charge of security at the blast site, said the bomber detonated his explosives as soldiers from the government’s central security forces, commanded by a nephew of Saleh, rehearsed for yesterday’s scheduled army parade to mark the 22nd anniversary of the unification of north and south Yemen.
The bombing comes as Hadi has been pressing ahead on two difficult fronts — battling al-Qaeda in the south and purging Saleh loyalists from military and security top posts.
Saleh stepped down in as part of a US-backed power-transfer deal brokered by Persian Gulf Arab countries aimed at ending political unrest in the country after a yearlong uprising. The deal gave Saleh immunity from prosecution in return for relinquishing his power.
Saleh originally appointed Ahmed as defense minister, but has recently pressed from behind the scenes for his dismissal because Ahmed has been cooperating with Hadi.
Military officials said the bomber belonged to the Central Security, a paramilitary force commanded by Saleh’s nephew, Yahia Saleh. He detonated his explosives in the midst of the Central Security unit as it received orders to pass in front of the parade view stand where both Ahmed and al-Ashwal were sitting.
“They are playing their last cards and blackmailing the new leadership,” political analyst Abdel-Bari Taher said. “This is one desperate attempt by both al-Qaeda and [Ali Abdullah] Saleh’s regime to survive.”
Shortly after the attack, Hadi demoted two of Ali Abdullah Saleh’s relatives, including Yahia, from their top positions in the Central Security forces and the interior ministry.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary