Civil Strife and al Qaeda in Yemen

Lauren Zigan

Prime Minister Salah

Yemen has been in conflict for some time while trying to overthrow their Prime Minister Salah. There have been attacks and killings throughout the country, and some major ones in just the past month. One major attack happened on Tuesday August 23^rd in the middle of the day.  8 military troops were killed and many more injured when al Qaeda attacked the base at an unsuspecting time catching the troops off guard.  Al Qaeda had been trying to take over the base for a couple weeks prior to the deaths. After the al Qaeda attack on the military base, some al Qaeda lives were taken in a separate attack from the government. The government had been attempting to take back the Abyan province since the military had taken it over. There was an airstrike attack against al Qaeda on Wednesday August 24^th that killed 36 suspected militants in Yemen.  There were two airstrikes, one killing about 30 militants and the second about 6. There is fear that the al Qaeda will plot attacks against the government after they had already taken over many towns during the turmoil that was brought out by protests against Salah.

In an attempt to take back territory from the al Qaeda, 26 militants lost their life and 10 more were injured in heated battle in the south of Yemen on August 29^th, 2011. The fighting lasted about 24 hours and one of the biggest deaths was the colonel.  With the prime minister refusing to step down from power the fighting, protests and deaths will just continue and the country is left confused. The U.S. is getting more concerned as time goes on and the al Qaeda seem to get stronger in southern Yemen. They are taking advantage of the country’s problems and turmoil and taking over many towns in the south of Yemen. In the past week, not anything major has happened in Yemen. The, what have become normal, airstrikes have continued to occur along with fighting usually in the Yemen south. 12 al Qaeda was killed in a gunfire attack and unfortunately 2 civilians got caught up in the fighting and lost their lives as. Also, 7 more civilians were killed in an airstrike against the militants, as the government continues to try to take back the towns the al Qaeda has taken over.