SANAA, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni-based
al-Qaida wing said Wednesday that the suicide bombing attack three days ago on the presidential palace in the southeastern
Hadramout province was a message to the U.S. ambassador to Sanaa and Yemeni Republican Guards.
"On Saturday, Feb. 25, Abu Muhjen al-Saghiri attacked with his explosives-laden vehicle the troops of the Republican Guards inside the presidential palace in Mukalla, Hadramout's capital, killing nearly 30 officers and soldiers and wounding more than 50, " al-Qaida said in a statement posted on an Islamic forum.
"The suicide operation came after U.S ambassador to Yemen ( Gerald Feierstein) announced recently that his government will use all of its potential military and human resources to back the Yemeni government in the war against terrorism," the statement said.
"The 'martyrdom' attack bears a clear message to the U.S. ambassador who speaks with arrogance and hubris as a real ruler of Yemen," the statement said, adding "The attack was also a clear message to the Yemeni Republican Guards who not only killed protesters in Sanaa, Taiz, Hadramout and al-Bayda, but also turned into an obedient tool doing whatever U.S. ambassador orders."
"In the message, we want to tell America that its project in Yemen will not succeed, and our attacks will hit American project and its tools," the statement added.
In another statement on Wednesday, the
al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) gave the Yemeni government 10 days to retreat its army forces from the outskirts of Zinjibar, the capital of southern province
Abyan, which has been occupied by the militants since May last year.
"Anu Hamza Jalal Bil'Eady, the Emir of Ansar al-Sharia ( Partisans of Islamic Law Sharia and the local name branded by the AQAP) in Abyan on Wednesday gave the Yemeni government a 10-day deadline to retreat its armored army brigades from the outskirts of Zinjibar, otherwise, we will carry out the Flowing River Plan of launching a full-scale offensive against the government forces, " the resurgent terrorist group said in a statement obtained by Xinhua.
The AQAP's threats came a day after a local army official told Xinhua that the government gave al-Qaida militants seven days to quit captured towns of Zinjibar and Jaar in Abyan, which the militants seized in May 2011 and triggered 10 months of continued fighting that forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, a Yemeni government official told Xinhua anonymously on Wednesday that "military reinforcements have been mobilized to Abyan in preparation of launching a massive military campaign against the terrorist groups during the next month."
Since January 2011, when protests erupted against former President
Ali Abdullah Saleh, militants of the AQAP have been working to bolster their presence in Yemen's remote regions.
The group has taken control of swathes of areas and towns across the restive southern provinces, as the Yemeni government engaged in fierce clashes with the militants over the past several months, leaving hundreds of people killed.
The AQAP, entrenching itself mainly in Yemen's southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, is on the terrorist list of the United States. Newly-elected President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi vowed to strengthen security and intelligence cooperation with the United States in combating the AQAP that threatened the daily oil shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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