Aden (South24 Center)

Security forces in the capital, Aden, announced on Monday, July 6, the seizure of large quantities of explosives and improvised explosive devices inside a fenced site in the Al-Musaybeen area of Dar Sad district, in an operation they said was linked to elements affiliated with former military commander and prominent wanted figure Amjad Khalid.

In a statement, the Aden Security Directorate said the operation was carried out based on intelligence information and security investigations that led to the raid on the site, under the direct supervision of the forensic evidence team and mine clearance experts.

The statement quoted the Director of Dar Sad Police Department, Colonel Musleh Al-Dharhani, as saying that security forces found quantities of highly explosive C-4 material stored inside plastic containers, along with explosive belts and an artillery shell that had been converted into an improvised explosive device prepared for use in terrorist acts.

The Aden Security Directorate said intelligence information and investigations linked the site to elements affiliated with Amjad Khalid, a former military commander in the Yemeni government who, according to security authorities in Aden, fled the city years ago to Taiz and then to Sanaa, where he joined the Houthi group.

The statement did not provide details on whether the operation resulted in the arrest of suspects inside or outside the site, or whether the seized explosives were linked to a specific operation under preparation.

The operation brings back to the forefront the file of cells linked to Amjad Khalid in Aden, which security authorities place within the context of a series of bombings and assassination attempts that have struck the city in recent years.

Aden security authorities say a number of bombing and assassination cells uncovered in recent years were linked to networks affiliated with Amjad Khalid, including the assassination attempt against former Aden Governor Ahmed Hamed Lamlas and Minister of Fish Wealth Salem Al-Soqotri, as well as the bombing that targeted the perimeter of Aden International Airport.

On June 27, the Aden Security Directorate announced the arrest of suspects in the abduction and assassination of Engineer Wisam Qaid, Acting Executive Director of the Social Fund for Development in Aden. The directorate said preliminary confessions indicated that the operation was carried out for the Houthi group through a cell linked to Amjad Khalid.

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