January 18, 2008
Belgian Tourists Murdered in Yemen
A guy opened fire on a group of tourists and killed them in cold blood in an unsophisticated attack targeting the economy as much as the foreigners. The attack follows a web statement (that may or may not be what it seems) calling for more releases of incarerated al-Qaeda. The prior attack in Marib in July that killed seven Spanish tourists also followed a web statement with the same demand.
It could be: a) a fanatical guy who wants to cleanse Yemen of the infidels defiling it; b) senior al-Qaeda using terror attacks as a bargaining chip with Saleh; c) a disenfranchised splinter group on its own path rejecting the alliance with Saleh; d) related somehow to the civil unrest in the South.
Undoubtedly, the regime's pattern of negotiation and appeasement has emboldened the militants.
SANAA (AFP) : Two Belgian tourists were among three people killed, with four more Belgians wounded, when gunmen opened fire on them in Yemen's Hadramut province on Friday, a local official told AFP.The tourists' Yemeni driver was also killed by the unknown attackers in the southeastern province of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
