Yemeni court jails 6 ‘Qaeda’ militants

A Sanaa court specialising in terrorism sentenced six Yemenis to between one and five years in prison yesterday for “belonging to Al Qaeda” and plotting attacks in Yemen. The court acquitted six others accused in connection with the same case for lack of evidence against them, according to the verdict read by judge Hilal Mhaffal. The 12 were accused of “participating in an armed organised group plotting to carry out criminal acts targeting armed and security forces ... government buildings ... and attacking foreign tourists and missions between 2009 and 2011”, according to the charge sheet. The court also set November 19 as the date for a verdict in a separate case involving six other people—among them an Emirati of Yemeni origin—also accused of belonging to “an Al Qaeda cell plotting attacks.” Until recently, Al Qaeda militants held large swathes of territory across the country’s south, but after a month-long government offensive that ended in June, most have fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east. Though weakened, the militants continue to launch hit and run attacks on government and civilian targets throughout Yemen. An intelligence officer died of his wounds yesterday from an attack in the southeast blamed on Al Qaeda, a hospital source said. “Lieutenant Colonel Salah Badhriss has died of his injuries,” the source at Seyun hospital in Hadramout province said, adding that he had been shot three times in the chest. A security source said the attack was carried out by two Al Qaeda militants on a motorbike who fled the scene.