Al-Qaida Kills At Least 38 Yemeni Troops As The Group's Branches Grow Bolder Across Region
Ahmed Al-Haj, The Associated Press
| Sep 20, 2013 | Last Updated: Sep 20, 2013 - 6:00 UTC
SANAA, Yemen - Under a heavy fog, al-Qaida militants disguised in military uniforms launched car bomb attacks on three different security and military posts in southern Yemen on Friday, killing 38 soldiers in the group's biggest attack in the country since last year.
The co-ordinated attacks point to how al-Qaida is exploiting the continued weakness of Yemen's military to rally back here at a time when the group's branches across the region grow more assertive. More than two years after U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, factions of the group he led are taking advantage of turmoil in multiple Arab nations to expand their presence and influence.
In Syria, foreign jihadis linked to or inspired by al-Qaida have become such a powerful force in the rebellion that the Syrian opposition on Friday accused them of being opportunists hijacking the uprising against President Bashar Assad. After the coup in Egypt toppled the Islamist president, al-Qaida leaders have called on sympathizers to join militants' fight there against the military. Iraq's al-Qaida branch has stepped up attacks in that country and extended operations into neighbouring Syria.
Last month, the U.S. temporarily closed 19 diplomatic missions across the Middle East and North Africa after intelligence agencies intercepted a message between al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wahishi, also a one-time confidant of bin Laden who leads the Yemen branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
"I think there's been a promiscuous rush to write al-Qaida's obituary, and it's always been presumptuous. It's certainly had setbacks ... but its resilience has always been more formidable than we imagine," said Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.
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