Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Yemen: Islamic Army Denies Claim of Assassination Attempt | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Sanaa, Asharq Al-Awsat- A source from the outlawed Yemeni Aden Abyan Islamic Army has stated that the group’s leader, Sheikh Khalid Abdul Nabi was the target of an assassination attempt. The source, which refused to be identified, told Asharq Al Awsat that a plot was revealed to assassinate Abdul Nabi at the hands of an armed group in Jaar, a province in Abyan Governorate, south Yemen.

The source asserted that several participants of numerous assassination plans for the Islamic Army leader were identified and admitted their involvement. However, a security source denied this information and stressed that President Ali Abdullah Saleh had pardoned Abdul Nabi.

The source accused a person called “W.H.” of trying to recruit several Aden Abyan Army members to carry out the operation, and added that the defendant has links with the security services and tried to deceive cadres in the army “but they discovered his lies.” It added that the information obtained from “some youths” included the monitoring of Khalid Abdul Nabi’s movements between his house, the mosque in which he prays, and his farm and pointed out that the aforementioned person “was infiltrated to penetrate the youth’s ranks, in an outwardly religious way but covertly for security reasons.” It denied that the person who tried to assassinate Abdul -Nabi was an Aden Army member and said, “This person has no connection to the Aden Abyan Army. We want to know whether these actions are personal ones from the directorate or if they come from a higher authority.”

On its part, a security source in Abyan Governorate strongly denied this information. The official who refused to be identified told Asharq Al Awsat, “The Aden Abyan Army does not exist. Khalid Abdul Nabi had given himself up in the past, President Saleh pardoned him and he is now living as an ordinary citizen and has a farm.” He added, “Abdul Nabi has disagreements with a farmer and he complains about some people and some people complain about him.” He also denied that there are detainees from a group called ‘Monotheism and Jihad’ in Abyan and stressed, “If there are detainees, then they are held because of disagreements amongst them about land etc and not in connection with other cases.”