The lawless land that is Yemen

My Pet Jawa has this story that I have not seen elsewhere:

"Following the suicide bombing that killed four South Korean tourists in Hadramout, Yemen on Sunday, a convoy carrying the team of South Korean investigators was targeted by a suicide bomber en route from the airport. Its just unbelievable. Thankfully there were no casualties beyond the bomber. Lets put it in historical context:

1- Yemen has a history of impeding and obstructing terror investigations by "Western" investigators. The prime example is the USS Cole investigation when the Yemeni government and its officials deliberately misdirected, misinformed and failed to inform the FBI or grant direct access to suspects. Following the obstruction of the investigation came the obstruction of justice. All those complicit in the bombing are free in Yemen. Those convicted by a Yemeni court spent less than four years in jail, and many were never brought to trial.

Another example is the 2007 suicide bombing in which killed eight elderly Spanish tourists and two Yemeni guides. In that case, the Yemeni government denied a US offer of forensic assistance and obstructed Spanish investigators. The Yemeni government has accused numerous persons of complicity in these murders and none of the "masterminds" are in jail. However, four teen-agers were convicted recently and 16 other alleged terrorists are about to go on trial.

Now following the suicide attack that killed four Korean tourists and one Yemeni, the Korean investigative team was targeted by another suicide bomber en route from the airport. (Update: the SK officials were leaving a military camp.) How did the suicide bomber know when the SK security team was going to be passing? Clearly its not random.

2- The Yemeni government is currently deploying two separate groups of jihaddists as mercenaries. The first is the al Fahdli group in Abyan, south Yemen and is the "co-opted" jihaddists. There was a meeting, a deal was struck, money changed hands, prisoners were released and the plan is a go. The regime has abdicated control of Jahr, Abyhan to the fundamentalists (who have murdered several suspected homosexuals, confiscated property and imposed their hard-core version of Sharia law). New training camps were established.

One new terrorist guesthouse is in Sanhan, President Saleh's village, and the next stop is a training camp in al-Haimah west of Sanaa. Another camp was recently established in the al-Ahbush mountains in Rumalia near Jahr, with the support of Yemeni military authorities. A third camp established is in Rahbat in Aden.

The second group of terrorists is that assembling in the north, in Sa'ada. This group appears to have been loaned out by Ayman Zawahiri to assist President Saleh in the next war against the (Shiite) Houthi rebels. The group reportedly is comprised of Yemenis and Arab and non-Arab foreigners, which may include Somalis.

The third contingent of violent jihaddists in Yemen is supposedly headed by Nasir al Wahishi and has incorporated the remnants of the Saudi al Qaeda network. This group publicly rejects negotiations with the regime and has threatened shipping routes in the Bab al Mendab. However, some Yemeni security officials are aware of Wahishi's current location.

So in conclusion, while it is still too early to draw any firm conclusions on this week's terror attacks in Yemen, the range of possible perpetrators is quite broad. Random factoid: South Korean is a primary investor in and customer of Yemen's LNG project scheduled to come online within months. "