Governor of Aden’s vehicle targeted (Image via @adennetwork)
Major-General Jaafar Mohammed Saad, governor of Aden, southern Yemen was killed along with several bodyguards when a vehicle he was travelling in as part of a convoy was targeted using explosives in the Tawahi area of the port city.
Hisham al Omeisy, a Yemeni Political & Information Analyst based in Sana’a, Yemen tweeted the following along with an image of the attack,
Aden’s governor was rptdy assassinated when his convoy was targeted while passing through Tawahi neighborhood in Aden now. #Yemen
Assassination of governor one of many in string in Aden starkly highlighting rapidly deteriorating security. #Yemen
Major General Jafar Mohammed Saad appointed Governor of Aden in October (Image, via @adennetwork)
Saad was recently appointed as governor in October and was aware his life was under threat. Reuters reported, “Hadi returned to Aden from Saudi Arabia last month, nearly eight months after he fled to escape the Houthi advance. He has been trying to shore up security in the city and oversee fighting against the Houthis in the province of Taiz, north of Aden.”
Islamic State statement (Image posted via Michael Horowitz)
Islamic State in the region has allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack, “in a statement posted on a messaging service, the group said it detonated an explosives-laden car as Jaafar Mohammed Saad’s convoy was passing in a western district of Aden.”
As al Omeisy highlighted this is the latest in a series of assassinations which includes judges dealing with terror cases, he tweeted,
I think Judge Alwan is 2nd assassination from criminal court dealt w/ terror cases; Abbas al Aqrabi shot dead back in Oct in Aden too. #Yemen
A military intelligence official was targeted in another incident. Civilians are also hit badly as markets, mosques and health centres come under attack from opposing sides with disturbing regularity. Last week Medecins Sans Frontieres released a statement claiming “an airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition has hit a clinic in southern Yemen run by MSF, wounding nine people, including two MSF staff.”
Yemen Updates reported that President President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi received the UN Envoy to Yemen this week and peace talks are agreed to be held in Geneva in mid-December. They can’t come soon enough for war-weary civilians that know even a trip to buy food or a visit to a hospital now carries a security risk.
Links
“Yemen: Nine wounded in Saudi-led coalition airstrike on MSF clinic in Taiz (Statement, Medecins Sans Frontieres)”
“Decrying cluster bombs: Yemeni doctors appeal for international help in treating injuries allegedly by prohibited weapons”
“Wilayat Sanaa claim responsibility for suicide bombing at a mosque in capital of Yemen”
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 