Abyan (South24) 

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Today, Major General Fadl Baash, commander of the Special Security Forces in the Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Al-Dhalea governorates, has survived an assassination attempt carried out by terrorists using a car bomb.

A security source told the South24 Center that five soldiers accompanying the pro-Southern Transitional Council (STC) security commander were injured during the attack, which took place on the international road linking the capital city Aden and Abyan.

Images taken since the attack showed the bomb detonated close to the local authority building in Zinjibar, Abyan. The security source did not clarify whether any people were inside the car at the time of the explosion.

Based on recent events, it is likely that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is behind the operation. Over the past few days, the organization has conducted a series of bloody bombing attacks against Southern forces in the Abyan and Shabwa governorates.

Last Tuesday, five security personnel in the Abyan governorate were killed in an explosive device attack. A similar bombing incident just one day prior ended the lives of four soldiers, while another explosive attack killed four soldiers from the Shabwa Defense Forces on September 24th.

Yahya Ghaleb, a senior STC official, commented on the attacks saying: “For eight years now, the South and its officials are witnessing an unprecedented number of bomb attacks”.

The August 10th assassination of the Security Belt commander in Abyan, Brigadier General Abdullatif Al-Sayed, had been the extremist AQAP organization’s most recent operation targeting senior Southern officials.

Related: Security Belt Commander in Abyan Killed in an AQAP Attack (Updated) 

In 2022, assassination operations in the capital city of Aden claimed the lives of prominent military commanders, including Major General Thabet Jawas and security official Karam Al-Mashriqi. 

Subsequent security investigations and video confessions of defendants indicated the involvement of AQAP and the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in these operations.

During a webinar organized by the South24 Center on September 24th, experts on extremist groups cautioned against the absence or weakness of regional and international counter-terrorism efforts in South Yemen.

Adrian Calamel, fellow at the Arabian Peninsula Institute and expert in Middle Eastern Studies and Terrorism stated that today, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen is united with the extremist AQAP organization against the South and the STC, and criticized the current Biden administration’s lack of understanding about this common threat.

It should be noted that a prominent AQAP member was killed in Lahj governorate last September 25th after an exchange of fire with a Southern forces security checkpoint.