Surrounded by mountains and weighed down by poverty, a Yemeni town bears the dubious honor of carrying the same name as al-Qaeda.
The residents of Al-Qaeda, 220km northwest of the capital, Sanaa, say the name has brought shame on the town.
Al-Qaeda (Arabic for “the base”) was once a commercial hub where custom duties on trade between north and south Yemen were collected decades ago, according to older residents.
“The name of the town of Al-Qaeda has nothing to do with the organization headed by [Osama] bin Laden,” said Colonel Abdullah al-Shaddadi, the local security chief.
However, the inhabitants have been faced with “suspicion” because of the name ever since the rise of the jihadist group led by bin Laden, whose ancestral homeland is Yemen, Shaddadi said.
“There are many of them who are lucky enough to receive scholarships to study abroad, but they face trouble because Al-Qaeda is their hometown,” the security chief said.
“One of Al-Qaeda’s inhabitants traveled to an Arab country for medical treatment, but airport authorities detained and interrogated him, and then sent him back after finding the name of Al-Qaeda in his passport,” he said.
However, the link has also brought a measure of fame to the town as “foreign journalists come to visit only for its name,” he said.
In an attempt to clear the record, Shaddadi said the town “has many people who drink alcohol and consume drugs,” both of which are strictly forbidden in Islam. “How could those be followers of bin Laden?”
He insisted Al-Qaeda, which has no paved roads and where cheap motorbikes are the most common means of transportation, was “absolutely free of jihadists and extremists.”
While extremism is not an issue in this town of 70,000 people, of whom 90 percent live below the poverty line, Al-Qaeda has become a safe haven for drug traffickers and alcohol dealers.
Even though poverty stares them in the face, hospitality towards strangers is a must for the people of Al-Qaeda.
“Al-Qaeda is a beautiful place, but there are those trying to tamper with its beauty and turn it into a base for criminal gangs,” said resident Ahmed al-Sabri, 45.
“Twenty years ago, Al-Qaeda residents knew nothing about bandits and criminals who kill innocent people. But today, armed groups have been formed to rob and kill with impunity,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number