Fighting terrorism remains Yemeni forces responsibility

Yemen has been rejecting any foreign interference or direct interference in the fight against terror. Yemeni anti terror units have been trained by U.S. and British experts

A Yemeni official source stressed that fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen is a job for the Yemeni security and military.
 
The source denied an American report that noted al-Qaeda in Yemen has become more dangerous than its Pakistani counterpart.
 
The official source also said on Thursday that US officials have exaggerated the size and danger of al-Qaeda in Yemen.
 
“Some American and western media exaggerate al-Qaeda and its threats to stability and security in Yemen and to the interests of  the brotherly and friendly countries,”  said the official source.

 
The same source also denied and criticized the report published by a UK based Independent  organization alleging that there are Yemeni security forces  associated with al-Qaeda.
 
The Yemeni official denied “press leaks published in US and Western media that exaggerate the size of al-Qaeda and the danger that it poses to Yemen’s stability and security.
 
An unnamed US counter-terrorism official told AFP Wednesday that the United States was increasingly concerned about the threat posed by al-Qaeda in Yemen and that it was moving to mound pressure on al-Qaeda fighters in the country.
 
He said Al-Qaeda affiliates have regrouped in Yemen and emerged as a “virulent” danger.
 
“They’re not feeling the same kind of heat -- not yet, anyway -- as their friends in the tribal areas” of Pakistan, he said, adding that “everyone involved on our side understands that has to change.”
 
The US official spoke following reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post citing US officials as saying that the new assessment of the threat raised the prospect of expanded US operations in Yemen, including CIA drone strikes.
 
“Yemeni forces, with the support of friends and brothers, are capable of bearing their full responsibilities in eliminating al-Qaeda elements,” he said.

“The Yemeni forces, with support from brothers and friends, is be able to take full responsibility for combating the elements of al-Qaeda and those who support,” said the statement .
 
“Al-Qaeda is suffering big breakdowns, be it through the preemptive strikes being implemented by the security agencies or through the surrendering  of its  leaders, in addition to arrests  of others during the continuous hunts.”
 
“These  reports  might have something to do with the mid- term elections in United States, so it will not affect the Yemeni government’s  policy of combating terrorism or cooperation with the international community without touching Yemen’s  sovereignty, its constitution and laws.”
 
These developments came after fierce confrontations between Yemen’s security forces and al-Qaeda fighters in town of  Lawdar, Abyan province south of Yemen. More than 30 people have been killed in confrontations which started last Friday August 20th, 2010.
 
On Wednesday, August  25th, 2010, al-Qaeda operatives killed four soldiers and injured two others in the heart of the capital of Abyan Zinjubar, according to an  official statement.
 
An al-Qaeda fighter with an explosive belt was arrested in the same city on Thursday, said the official statement.  
 
Yemen has intensified its military campaign against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since December, mainly after the Christmas Day botched attempt to blow up a US airliner by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was suspected of training in Yemen.

The US administration has also confirmed it is actively hunting down Anwar Al-Awlaqi, a US-born cleric in Yemen who has praised Abdulmutallab, and blessed a shooting rampage last year at Fort Hood in Texas by a Muslim US Army officer.

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