24 Slain in al-Qaeda Suicide Attack on Yemeni Army Base

Militants Disguised in Army Uniforms Hit Abyan Base

Continuing over a year of fighting over the Abyan Province, four al-Qaeda militants dressed in army uniforms launched a suicide car bombing against a Yemeni military base in the town of Shuqra, killing 24 people.

A Yemeni soldier present at the site said the attackers’ vehicle had military license plates, and there was nothing suspicious about them when they entered the compound. The early morning attack caught most of the base security sleeping.

Once on base, three of the four attackers jumped out of the pickup truck and started shooting the sleeping guards. When the gunfire attracted a crowd of soldiers, the other detonated the truckload of explosives, killing and wounding a large number of soldiers.

The attack shows that despite official claims of having conclusively defeated the militant factions in Abyan they are still active and more than capable of inflicting massive casualties on the Yemeni military.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.