Suspected AQAP attack kills Security Belt Forces commander in southern Yemen

DUBAI -- A bombing in southern Yemen on Thursday (August 10) killed four fighters affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces, including a commander who previously survived assassination attempts by al-Qaeda.

The roadside bomb detonated while their convoy was passing near the district of Mudiyah in Abyan province, a security official said.

The convoy had been en route to a flashpoint area that has seen regular confrontations with al-Qaeda fighters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast that killed Abdullatif al-Sayyid, the newly appointed commander of the Security Belt Forces in Abyan province.

The STC confirmed al-Sayyid's death in a statement.

Al-Sayyid, who led several major offensives against extremists, had survived several attempts to kill him ordered by al-Qaeda in the past, the source said.

The attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al-Jazeera reported.

A few days ago, before the fatal bombing, the STC announced the launch of a large-scale security campaign to pursue al-Qaeda members in Mudiyah district.

An al-Qaeda leader known as "Abul Qaaqaa" was arrested in the operation, Sky News Arabia reported Sunday. The arrest came two days after al-Sayyid was appointed commander of the Security Belt Forces in Abyan.

The force, which is loyal to the STC and tasked with protecting southern regions of Yemen, is trained and equipped by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has played a key role in the fight against extremists.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen

Thursday's bombing comes more than a week after a suspected al-Qaeda attack killed five soldiers in Wadi Omran, Abyan province.

In June, suspected al-Qaeda militants killed two soldiers at a military checkpoint in Yemen's southern province of Shabwa.

AQAP has used the years-long conflict between Yemeni forces and the Iran-backed Houthis to cement its influence.

Yemeni researchers in June told Al-Mashareq there are signs that al-Qaeda is seeking to shift its main power base to Yemen, as it regroups in the aftermath of the death in Afghanistan of its former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

AQAP still has the ability to carry out terror attacks, according to a July 2022 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report.

Despite the setbacks it has suffered, AQAP poses a persistent threat in the Arabian Peninsula, per the report, submitted to the UNSC by the committee on the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.

This threat is now expanding, as the group aspires to carry out international attacks, it said, also noting collaboration between the group and the Houthis.

But security forces in southern Yemen are continuing their operations against al-Qaeda, inflicting heavy losses on the group.

Several senior AQAP members have been killed in recent attacks against extremists in Yemen, including Hamad bin Hamoud al-Tamimi, who was killed in an air strike that targeted a house in Marib province in late February.

The attack came a month after a senior al-Qaeda leader, in charge of manufacturing explosives, was killed alongside two of his companions in a January 30 air strike in Marib province.