Yemen’s active al-Qaida branch has already been linked to terror attacks on U.S. soil and on neighboring Saudi Arabia. It is believed to be one of the international terror organization’s most dangerous franchises.
By AHMED AL-HAJ
Associated Press
SANAA, Yemen — A band of al-Qaida militants took full control on Monday of a town 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing at least 150 inmates.
The capture of the town of Radda expanded already significant territorial conquests by the militants, who have taken advantage of the weak central government and political turmoil roiling the nation for the past year during an anti-regime uprising inspired by Arab Spring revolts.
Authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently agreed to step down after months of resisting the protests against his 33-year rule. But he remains a powerful force within the country and a spark for ongoing unrest.
Al-Qaida in Yemen had previously taken control of a string of towns in the mostly lawless south. But its capture of Radda is particularly important because it gives the militants a territorial foothold closer than ever before to the capital, where many sleeper cells of the terror network are thought to be located.
Fragmented Yemen is the poorest nation in the Arab world. There have long been fears that the chaos there, if unchecked, could lead to the breakup of the country along tribal or regional lines, with the militants in control of inaccessible and heavily fortified pockets deep in the country’s mountainous interior.
Such a scenario could turn Yemen into something akin to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a sanctuary for militants from the world over where they could plot high-profile terror attacks.
Yemen’s active al-Qaida branch has already been linked to terror attacks on U.S. soil and on neighboring Saudi Arabia. It is believed to be one of the international terror organization’s most dangerous franchises.