Al-Qaeda puts bounty on Americans’ heads in Yemen

Assassinations targeting intelligence forces have increased Sanaa – Ali Rabea Jihadi websites have posted an offer of a reward from Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) for the killing of American soldiers and the American ambassador to the country, Gerald Feierstein. The Yemeni parliament has again called in the ministers of defence and interior for questioning over the increasing violence as an intelligence officer was shot dead in Al-Mukalla in Hadramout on the same day as an army colonel was being laid to rest after being shot by unidentified individuals believed to be members of al-Qaeda.
The AQAP organisation, based in Yemen, have extended the bounty on to the heads of all American soldiers in Yemen, not just Feierstein. Jihadi websites affiliated with the organisation posted a video entitled The Jihad of an Umma, which described the bounty as an “incentive to Jihad.” The award, according to the video, is “3,000 grams of gold” for the killing of “the Jewish American Ambassador to Sanaa” and “5 million Yemeni rials ($25,000 US) for anyone who kills an American soldier.” The video quoted bin Laden as saying “you need consult no-one on the killing of Americans.”
Whilst Yemeni Defence Officials attended the funeral of an army colonel on Saturday who was killed by unidentified gunmen, a member of the Yemeni intelligence community was killed by two gunmen riding a motorbike Saturday morning in the coastal city of Al-Mukalla in the eastern province of Hadramout. Local sources told Arabstoday that the two unidentified individuals were believed to be Al-Qaeda members. The bikers shot an officer from the Political Security Organisation (the Yemeni intelligence agency) near his home in the Al-Daiss neighbourhood in Al-Mukalla. The gunmen fled and the officer later died in hospital.
The website of the Yemeni Ministry of Defence has confirmed the incident, naming the late officer as Mutia Mohammed Baqettian. For the second time in less the month, Yemeni parliament yesterday summoned both the Defence and Interior Ministers for questioning over the increasing number of assassinations targeting intelligence and army forces.
Security sources have told Arabstoday that security authorities stopped a car carrying five armed men suspected of being Al-Qaeda militants. A number of weapons including RPG grenades, machine guns and around 2,000 Kalashnikov rounds were recovered in the operation which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning. Yemeni security had confirmed on Friday the killing of two Al-Qaeda members in the Hadramout town of Al-Shahr when they were targeted in two separate air raids by drones believed to be American. Washington is allied with Sanaa in the fight against the Al-Qaeda organisation active in Yemen