Al Qaeda asks Yemeni tribes not to hand over its fighters

SANA’A - Militant outfit Al Qaeda has called on tribes in oil-rich Yemen not to hand over its fighters to the government, saying such an act would put the tribes to shame.

“The (Al Qaeda) fighters are your sons, and you (tribal leaders) would put yourself to shame if you hand over them to the government or cut off ties with them,” Xinhua quoted the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) statement as saying Friday.

Al Qaeda has directed its statement to powerful tribes in Marib province, where a tribal leader and the province’s deputy governor, Jabir Ali al-Shabwany, was killed by mistake by an unmanned drone that was targeting Al Qaeda hideouts.

On May 24, an unmanned drone fired a missile on an alleged Al Qaeda meeting in Wadi Abieda area in Marib province. The missile, however, killed al-Shabwany along with his four bodyguards.

The outfit accused the government of killing tribesmen and destroying homes of innocent people and murdering children and women under the directions of the US.

“They (the government) killed Jabir Ali al-Shabwany under the direction of their American masters by firing a missile from a US unmanned aircraft, and later attributed the killing of Brigadier General Mohamed Saleh al-Shaif to Mujahideen, which is not true,” it said.

Al-Shaif and two of his bodyguards were killed June 5 in an ambush by unknown gunmen in Marib province. The Interior Ministry blamed the attack on Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda also accused the government of “seeking to sow discord between the tribes and Al Qaeda fighters and attempting to control the valley and humiliate the tribes”.

The Yemeni government had earlier called on the tribes to turn over Al Qaeda militants to the authorities and threatened punishment for those who provide them shelter.