July 23rd, 2010  - by Najam

DUBAI: Al-Qaeda on Friday claimed twin attacks on security and intelligence headquarters in the south Yemen town of Zinjibar on July 14 in which three policemen were killed, in an Internet statement. The group’s Yemen branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said in the statement posted on Islamist websites that the attack was to avenge the deaths of the “emir of the mujahedeen” in the Yemen province of Abyan, Jamil al-Ambari, and fellow jihadist Samir al-Sanaani. The two were among three Al-Qaeda fighters Yemen’s authorities said were killed in an air force raid on March 14 in Abyan’s Moudia district. In its statement, AQAP said that “dozens were killed and wounded” in the July 14 attack, which witnesses said targeted Zinjibar’s intelligence and security service headquarters.
It also said one of its fighters was killed and two wounded in the raid. Yemen security officials had put the toll at three policemen killed and 11 wounded, and said two gunmen were killed and one wounded in the attack. Witnesses had said the gunmen arrived on motorbikes and immediately launched simultaneous attacks on the two headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and grenades. In its Friday statement, AQAP vowed to continue its fight in Yemen until the fall of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government.
It said efforts by “treacherous Arab leaders” and “American tyrants” to keep Saleh in power would fail. “This corrupt, unjust and weak regime is about to fall. And the mujahedeen will continue their attacks until they achieve victory,” said the statement, the authenticity of which could not immediately be verified. AQAP had earlier this month also claimed a June 19 attack on the country’s intelligence headquarters in the southern port city of Aden, in which according to Yemeni officials 11 people — seven military personnel, three women and a seven-year-old boy were killed.
On Thursday, suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen ambushed a Yemeni army patrol under cover of darkness in the mountainous east of the country, killing five soldiers and wounding one, according to security officials. The attack on an army vehicle took place in Ataq, capital of Shabwa province, a stronghold of radical cleric and key AQAP leader Anwar al-Awlaqi, who was a week ago added to a US list of terrorism supporters. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is believed to have become a regrouping ground for Al-Qaeda fighters, especially in southern regions where the state presence is weak.

Source: News Agencies