JaneDoe
09-15-2006, 06:40 AM
Suicide blasts thwarted in Yemen's oil facilities, bombers killed
09/15/2006
The attempts came days before the country's presidential elections in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces a serious challenge for the first time since he became head of state in 1978.
Suicide bombers tried to strike two oil facilities in Yemen with explosives-packed cars, but authorities foiled the attacks and four bombers and a security guard were killed, the Interior Ministry said Friday.
The attempts came days before the country's presidential elections in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces a serious challenge for the first time since he became head of state in 1978.
They also came days after al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued a videotaped threat of attacks on the Persian Gulf, and on facilities he blamed for stealing Muslim oil.
Friday's attacks occurred 35 minutes apart, targeting a Yemeni oil refinery in the northeast province of Mareb and a Canadian-Yemeni oil storage facility at the Dubba Port in Haramut province - scene of a 2002 attack on the French tanker Limburg, an Interior Ministry statement said.
The statement said an investigation was under way to determine the identity of the "terrorist elements'' behind the attacks. But 14 of 23 al-Qaida prisoners who escaped from jail in February are still at large.
Full Story (http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/eu/mundua/threat-on-the-persian-gulf-suicide-blasts-thwarted-in-yemens-oil-?itemId=B24_9855&cl=%2Feitb24%2Finternacional&idioma=en)
09/15/2006
The attempts came days before the country's presidential elections in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces a serious challenge for the first time since he became head of state in 1978.
Suicide bombers tried to strike two oil facilities in Yemen with explosives-packed cars, but authorities foiled the attacks and four bombers and a security guard were killed, the Interior Ministry said Friday.
The attempts came days before the country's presidential elections in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces a serious challenge for the first time since he became head of state in 1978.
They also came days after al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued a videotaped threat of attacks on the Persian Gulf, and on facilities he blamed for stealing Muslim oil.
Friday's attacks occurred 35 minutes apart, targeting a Yemeni oil refinery in the northeast province of Mareb and a Canadian-Yemeni oil storage facility at the Dubba Port in Haramut province - scene of a 2002 attack on the French tanker Limburg, an Interior Ministry statement said.
The statement said an investigation was under way to determine the identity of the "terrorist elements'' behind the attacks. But 14 of 23 al-Qaida prisoners who escaped from jail in February are still at large.
Full Story (http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/eu/mundua/threat-on-the-persian-gulf-suicide-blasts-thwarted-in-yemens-oil-?itemId=B24_9855&cl=%2Feitb24%2Finternacional&idioma=en)