Yemen: Al-Qaeda behind attack on US embassy
posted at 10:07 am on March 22, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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A botched attack on the US embassy in Sanaa was an al-Qaeda operation, according to officials in Yemen. Terrorists shot mortar rounds at the compound but missed, hitting a nearby school instead. It killed one security guard and wounded 13 students:
An al Qaeda terror cell was behind a mortar strike against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen that missed its target but killed a security guard and wounded 13 students at a nearby school, an Interior Ministry official said Saturday.
The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said al Qaeda militant Hamza al-Dayan launched three mortars at the embassy Tuesday before fleeing in a vehicle with three accomplices.
The mortar shells crashed into the school in the downtown Sawan district of Sanaa, killing the security guard and wounding 13 schoolgirls, three grievously.
On Thursday, the police arrested five suspects in the attack. It was not clear if they have any connection to al-Dayan and his men, who remain at large.
The embassy has been attacked in the past, although not necessarily by AQ. Two attacks came from single individuals, one of whom was killed and other who served seven years. AQ has a fairly strong presence in Yemen, and they did successfully attack the USS Cole in 2000 at Yemen’s port in Aden.
If this does turn out to be an AQ attack, it demonstrates a lack of skill that is pretty remarkable. Ten years ago, AQ successfully detonated massive car bombs almost simultaneously in Kenya and Tanzania, killing hundreds and seriously damaging our embassies. A decade later, when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have supposedly served as training grounds for these terrorists, they can’t even aim a mortar properly at a stationary target.
It appears that rather than produce a more experienced and battle-hardened cadre of terrorists, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced AQ to use up their more experienced fighters in lopsided defeats against the West, and the trainees are all they have to use for operations elsewhere.
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“… killing the security guard and wounding 13 schoolgirls, three grievously.”
I’m sure a.q. is all broken up about that. How do we know they weren’t aiming at the school? They don’t want girls to be educated, right? So maybe this was a bullseye.
Tony737 on March 22, 2008 at 10:16 AM
AQ tried to attack a US embassy? That’s soooooo 1998.
Bigfoot on March 22, 2008 at 10:17 AM
It looks like the qualified terrorists have all been sent to Paradise and now they have to recruite from the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised that there han’t been any MSM stories on AQ not being to fill their recruiting quotas. I bet that the re-enlistment rate isn’t nearly as high as the U.S. military’s.
DAT60A3 on March 22, 2008 at 10:18 AM
“… the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced AQ to use up their more experienced fighters in lopsided defeats against the West …”
Exactly. We kill ‘em over there so they can’t bring their jihad over here. Thank you, President Bush!
Tony737 on March 22, 2008 at 10:20 AM
They murdered 13 schoolgirls? I guess they would call that honor killings.
jgapinoy on March 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM
That’s the basic flaw in the overall jihad strategy. Martyrdom operations don’t produce experienced fighters. They could do a lot more damage if they were willing to postpone paradise for several operations. Hopefully, they won’t figure this out until after they get to paradise.
RedWinged Blackbird on March 22, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Yup, this smells of inexperienced and/or poorly trained operatives. Accurately firing mortars (or artillery) is not an easy task; indirect fire never is. You’re firing blind, depending on ballistics, trigonometry, and surveying to hit your target. Even US soldiers have to “walk” the rounds onto the target.
But pre-plotting firing data between two known points is doable, especially in this day and age of cheap but very accurate hand held GPS units and Google Earth and firing tables. It’s been done before. These guys were newbies.
The_Real_JeffS on March 22, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Worse yet, they don’t produce experienced leaders. So the jihadists are doomed to repeat their mistakes over and over again.
The_Real_JeffS on March 22, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Why the assumption that the attack was botched? Sending the message that even being close to/by any American interest is dangerous should be terrorizing in itsself.
DannoJyd on March 22, 2008 at 10:30 AM
It looks like the qualified terrorists have all been sent to Paradise and now they have to recruite from the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised that there han’t been any MSM stories on AQ not being to fill their recruiting quotas. I bet that the re-enlistment rate isn’t nearly as high as the U.S. military’s. – DAT60A3
Best Comment of the Day … and it’s only 10:30!
Tony737 on March 22, 2008 at 10:32 AM
This isn’t your father’s Al-Quaeda.
THE CHOSEN ONE on March 22, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Let’s keep killing them until the words “al Qaeda” are completely forgotten and no longer part of spoken language.
Zorro on March 22, 2008 at 11:06 AM
This may be the Middle East, Danny, but it’s not Iraq, where any hint of cooperation with the Coalition once meant certain death (now, it’s just less likely). It’s Yemen, where things are relatively calm. Mortaring a school simply because it’s near the American Embassy threatens everyone in that area, and that is not likely in this scenario.
No, it’s more likely this was indeed a botched operation, by Occam’s Razor.
The_Real_JeffS on March 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM
I checked BBC News for the latest on this and story didn’t find anything. Huh? They’re usually quite loud when civilians get hit.
forest on March 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM
I’m just waiting for someone to figure out how to blame this on America.
Some wiz in a Reynolds-wrap cap is going to decide that we have technology that can push mortar shells in flight off course, that we knew they were coming, and that we deliberately steered them into the school to make the terrorists look bad.
Those who can’t quite swallow this idea will blame us for having an embassy in Arab lands, or by inflaming righteous passions by having Marine guards in that embassy.
Not that there’s much difference in the quality of logic.
njcommuter on March 22, 2008 at 11:37 AM
AQ? Have they any connection to Islam, the religion of peace?
AQ, they are the ones who have hijacked a noble religion aren’t they? Lets not confuse crazy hijacking extremists with the beautiful and peaceful religion of Islam. Did you know they invented peace and tolerance? Make sure you kneel when you are near a mosque, you never know which one holds special meaning in Islam, the religion of peace………./S
It’s not helpful to minimize the threat of Islam by implying AQ is some twisted tool of Bin Laden in Bin Ladens quest for whatever. Bin Laden is dead, just a symbol now, but people insist on personalizing this to protect the ideology of Islam.
Just get Bin Laden and it will all be over.
Meanwhile priests have the shit pounded out of them in their church yards by “hooded Asians” because the Asians are disenfranchised and the women and children among the Muslims suffer the most from it.
There are enough mirrors and smoke without contributing to it. Unless, of course, you believe George Bush’s words about the Noble religion of peace, then your toast anyway,ask Hesham Islam.
BL@KBIRD on March 22, 2008 at 11:40 AM
A slightly less sanguine view is that “trainees” are just lower level people, acting on their own, out of independent cells, without AQ “sending” them.
eeyore on March 22, 2008 at 11:45 AM
AQ is fleeing Iraq or being killed there. Now their survivors will blow up buses and schools somewhere else, because when you get right down to it, they are cowards.
dogsoldier on March 22, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I got a buck says they didn’t use a base plate. The attempt was the thing, results rarely matter in media reports. The headline says it all
E9RET on March 22, 2008 at 12:16 PM
If AQ’s violence against civilians bothered the beeb or most Democrats we would have heard about it years ago. Concern about such things just doesn’t seem to be part of their make up.
snaggletoothie on March 22, 2008 at 12:20 PM
This is Yemen.. they will be released within weeks .. to botch again.
redrock on March 22, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Well said. Like a modern version of Admiral Halsey’s famous quote about Japanese.
innominatus on March 22, 2008 at 1:30 PM
That takes care of AQ but doesn’t stop peaceful Muslims from shooting up El Al in Los Angeles, running over College students in North Carolina or attacking Fort Dix. Not to mention preserving their family “honour” in Chicago and Texas.
aengus on March 22, 2008 at 2:04 PM
An Army of
OneDumb.trigon on March 22, 2008 at 2:50 PM
They spray and pray.
Johan Klaus on March 23, 2008 at 1:30 AM
Wait a minute!!!
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and the Obamaniacs have assured us there is no Al Quaeda…except in Afghanistan!!! …and they would know!!!
Obviously someone in Yemen has wandered into Afghanistan without realizing it!!!
landlines on March 23, 2008 at 1:55 AM
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