SANAA, 6 April 2008 — Gunmen killed a Yemeni soldier and injured seven others yesterday in pre-dawn attacks against two military checkpoints that local security officials suspect may have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.
The gunmen opened fire with machine guns and then followed with rocket-propelled grenades, a tactic commonly used by Al-Qaeda in the country, said a Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Al-Qaeda has an active presence in Yemen despite government efforts to destroy the network.
The military checkpoints attacked within two hours of each other yesterday were located four kilometers apart in Yemen’s eastern province of Hadramawt, said the official. It was not immediately clear if the same attackers were involved in both incidents.
Opposition Weekly Closed
The Yemeni government closed one of the country’s top opposition newspapers yesterday, citing violations against “national unity.” Minister of Information Hassan Al-Lawzi issued a decree canceling the license of the Al-Wasat weekly “due to its publication of materials prohibited by the law and against the national unity.”
The decision also accused the paper of “undermining the country’s highest interests through harming the warm relations with brotherly countries.” It did not name any country.
Yemeni press and publications law prohibits the dissemination of any material seen as harming the national unity or ties with Arab countries.
