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Yemeni Source Names Members of Al Qaeda Cell Behind Attack on Spanish Tourists | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Sanaa, Asharq Al Awsat – Yemeni security authorities have disclosed the identity of the suicide bomber responsible for the attack on Spanish tourists at the Queen of Sheba temple [Balqis] in Marib at the beginning of July that left eight Spaniards and two Yemeni drivers dead and 12 others wounded.

On Thursday, a security source stated that investigations carried out by the Yemeni security authorities concluded that the bomber, Abdo Mohammed Saad Rahbaqah, was a Yemeni citizen from the Makal village in the Wazhar district of Raymah, 100km southwest of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The source said that the suicide bomber was part of a ten-member cell responsible for the attack on Spanish tourists. It pointed out that the suicide bomber was living in the neighborhood of Masik, east of Sanaa where he was recruited to the cell by Hamza Ali Salih al Dayyani who taught him how to drive and took him to an area called Wadi Ubaydah in Mareb.

The source added that the terror cell in the area had plotted the operation to kill the Spanish tourists. The cell also included Nasir Abdul Karim al Wahshi who declared leadership of the Al Qaeda organization in Yemen and who uses Abi Busayr as an alias, Muhammad Salih al Kazmi, Qasim Yahya Mahdi al Rimi, Ali Bin Ali Nasir Dawhah, Hamza Salim Umar al Qaedi, and Amara Abadah Masoud al Waili.

According to the security investigations, a Saudi member of the cell called Naif Mohammed al Qahtani was also involved in implementing the operation as well as two other Yemenis, Naji Ali Salih Jardan and Ali Nasir Dawhah from Mareb who provided shelter for the cell members and who are also accused by Yemeni authorities of killing Lieutenant Colonel Ali Hamoud Basilah, the criminal investigation official in Mareb who was assassinated a few weeks before the operation at the Queen of Sheba temple was carried out.