Timeline: Yemeni violence
A look at recent violence in Yemen between the government and Houthi rebels, southern separatists and al-Qaeda fighters.
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| Yemen’s army is fighting on several fronts [EPA] |
Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries and a crucial US ally in Washington’s fight against al-Qaeda, is in the midst of a series of conflicts that threaten its stability.
As well as tackling al-Qaeda fighters and dealing with a growing secessionist movement in the south, the government is also trying to cement a truce with Houthi rebels, who are primarily from the Zaidi Shia sect of Islam, in the north.
Below is an outline of security developments in the past months, categorised as being related to the Houthi rebels (N Yemen), southern secessionists (S Yemen) or Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP).
January 7, 2011
- S Yemen – Al-Qaeda fighters kill five soldiers in an ambush in the city of Lawdar.
December 12, 2010
- S Yemen – Armed men capture three soldiers and wounded five people in Daleh in south Yemen, a day after southern activists said they sought to pressure the government into a prisoner exchange.
December 11
- N Yemen – About 10 people are killed in fighting between northern Shia rebels and tribesmen who often side with the government, local officials say. A rebel spokesman declines to confirm the toll, but says negotiations are under way to end the clashes.
- S Yemen – A court sentences a man to death for a bombing which killed four people at a sports club in Aden in October. Hours later, armed men take two soldiers hostage in the man’s home province of Daleh in protest against the verdict, and demonstrators cut off a main road connecting Aden to the capital Sanaa, local officials say.
- S Yemen – Unidentified armed men kidnap two soldiers in the southern province of Lahj, local officials say.
- AQAP – A court in the southern province of Hadramawt sentences 12 people to up to seven years in jail for links to al-Qaeda, state media report.
December 9
- Police arrest eight people suspected of planting a bomb that ripped through a market and injured 13 people on December 8. Officials did not immediately say who was responsible.
November 29
- N Yemen – Armed tribesmen free the director of a Saudi hospital in Yemen hours after abducting him, after receiving assurances about their demand for the release of detained kinsmen.
- AQAP – Group claims responsibility for the November 24 car bombing in an internet statement.
November 26
- N Yemen – A car bomb in northern Saada kills two people, including an attacker, and wounds eight in a convoy of Houthis.
November 24
- N Yemen – A car bomb kills 23 people at a religious gathering of rebels in northern Jawf province.
November 23
- S Yemen – A blast kills one soldier and kills two others in a military patrol near the city of Lawdar.
November 22
- S Yemen – Southern separatists threaten to disrupt the Gulf Cup football tournament, which runs until December 5.
November 11
- AQAP – Masked gunmen wound two soldiers manning a checkpoint in Shabwa province.