ADEN: At least 12 suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in an air strike in southern Yemen this week, the Interior Ministry said. The ministry’s security media centre said the attack targeted a vehicle carrying the men in Abyan province, once a stronghold for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) before it was driven out by a US-backed military campaign last year.
The ministry did not say exactly when the attack took place or who carried it out, but Yemenis say most air strikes are the work of US drones, used as part of a campaign against the group regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network. Stabilizing Yemen, which is also struggling with southern separatists and northern rebels, is an international priority due to fears of disorder in a state that flanks top oil producer Saudi Arabia and major shipping lanes.
Iraq executes 11 ‘terror’ convicts
BAGHDAD: Iraq has executed 11 more people convicted of crimes related to “terrorist attacks, a justice ministry official said yesterday. “Eleven terrorists, all Iraqi men, were executed on Sunday. They were executed after being convicted by the courts of carrying out terrorist attacks,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The executions bring to at least 162 the number of people put to death in Iraq so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on reports from the justice ministry and officials, compared to 129 for all of 2012. Executions in Iraq, usually carried out by hanging, have increased this year despite persistent international calls for a moratorium. Diplomats have voiced worry that the pace of executions in Iraq may increase ahead of elections due to be held on April 30, arguing that officials will be keen to show they are tough on security.
Peres rejects Arafat poisoning theory
MEXICO CITY: Israeli President Shimon Peres rejected theories that Yasser Arafat was poisoned, telling a Mexican newspaper yesterday that any assassin would have found it easier to shoot the Palestinian leader. Swiss scientists have found that lab test results “moderately” backed the idea that Arafat died of polonium poisoning in 2004.
“I don’t believe it,” Peres told Excelsior newspaper in an interview ahead of a visit to Mexico. “If someone had wanted to get rid of Arafat, it would have been easier to do it with a bullet.”Agencies
