Scores killed as Yemen suicide bomber hits military parade rehearsal
Source: The Australian
A Yemeni soldier dressed in uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa, killing at least 96 troops and wounding more than 300 others, medical officials said.
The suicide attack was the deadliest in the country's capital since newly-elected President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to oust al-Qa'ida militants from Yemen's mostly lawless and restive southern and eastern provinces.
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the blast which according to witnesses was heard across the city, causing panic among residents.
The unidentified bomber detonated his explosives as soldiers from the government's central security forces, commanded by a nephew of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, rehearsed for an army parade to mark the 22nd anniversary of the unification of north and south Yemen, according to the official.
Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/scores-killed-as-yemen-suicide-bomber-hits-military-parade-rehearsal/story-e6frg6so-1226362781917
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Around 400 casualties, 25% killed, from one attacker (so they say), and smack in the middle of the "government's central security forces".
It's interesting to watch these tactics from Iraq and Afghanistan proliferate and evolve.
EFerrari
(163,986 posts)I would have had to flunk them en mass.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)It's like the "health care" types who keep on with discredited or risky treatments because doing nothing doesn't pay as much. Or "loot wins" as I like to put it.
A Pentagon that learned would be a much smaller and less expensive Pentagon, since the lesson is that conventional arms are not good for all that much in the modern world, whereas the Pentagon's idea is that there is just about nothing that can't be fixed with a sufficient number of soldiers and fancy weapons.
EFerrari
(163,986 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Such pointless violence! Don't those terrorists understand that the approved method of killing people involves remote-controlled missiles fired indiscriminately into occupied buildings? Far less personal risk that way, though I'm sure the number of casualties will be impressive in some circles of our military.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Yemen is in the middle of a multi-faction civil war.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)WASHINGTON A huge suicide bombing in the heart of Yemens capital Monday morning left hundreds dead and wounded, stunning the countrys beleaguered government and delivering a stark setback to the American counterterrorism campaign against Al Qaedas regional franchise, which has repeatedly tried to plant bombs on United States-bound jetliners.
Militants allied with Al Qaeda quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, in which a man disguised as a soldier blew himself up in the midst of a military parade rehearsal near the presidential palace in Sana, the capital. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in years in Yemen, the dirt-poor south Arabian country that is now central to United States concerns about terrorism.
The militant group, which goes by the name Ansar al Shariah, said in a Facebook post that the attack was aimed at Yemens defense minister and was intended to retaliate for the government campaign against Al Qaedas southern sanctuaries that began this month. The militants appear to be holding out and inflicting heavy losses on Yemens weak and divided army, despite a stepped-up United States campaign of drone strikes and military assistance.
The suicide bombing brought scenes of horrific carnage to a central square in Yemens capital, which is heavily fortified and had been spared the worst of the insurgent violence.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)That's the source of the story. At least wait for the suicide video release.
may3rd
(593 posts)Does this mean they normally wear civilian attire when on duty ?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Things get dicey fast when there is a loss of "confidence", and this sort of thing is even worse for "confidence" than the way the "Afghan Army" keeps shooting a few of their "trainers".
EFerrari
(163,986 posts)Susan Rice.
Indeed, firm as a rock.
Apparently they are holding a scaled down parade today, all the soldiers disarmed no doubt, and there is rioting etc. in the streets.