al-Qaeda was planning to blow up oil pipelines and take over entire cities in Yemen - Polidicks

[t]http://imgkk.com/i/q8v8.jpg[/t] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23598516[/url] [quote]Yemen says it has foiled an al-Qaeda plot to blow up oil pipelines and seize some of the country's main ports. Security remains tight and hundreds of armoured vehicles have been deployed to protect key sites. Both the US and UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen, prompted by intelligence reports of renewed terrorist activity. ... The BBC's correspondent in Washington, David Willis, says it appears that Yemen was at the centre of a complex and audacious plot which - had it succeeded - would have given al-Qaeda control over a crucial aspect of the country's infrastructure. Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot involved blowing up oil pipelines and taking control of certain cities - including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen's oil exports and is where a number of foreign workers are employed. "There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer," said Mr Badi. "This would be co-ordinated with attacks by al-Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city." Al-Qaeda members dressed as soldiers were to be outside the ports, he said. On a given signal they were to invade the facility and take it over. Yemeni officials quoted by AP news agency said they believed the motive for the planned attacks was retaliation for the killing of senior al-Qaeda figure Said al-Shihri, who was critically wounded in a November drone strike and later died of his injuries.[/quote]

Haven't heard much of al-Qaeda recently. How come they fell so silent? Didn't they get a new leader after Osama died?

So there [I]was[/I] a legitimate threat. This sounds like it would've been really, really bad.

I could definitely see them pulling off oil pipeline sabotage, but they must've been really optimistic if they were going for some cities as well.

must protect mah oils

[QUOTE=Xmeagol;41745801]must protect mah oils[/QUOTE] Well yeah. If al-Qaeda succeeded they would have more or less paralyzed Yemen's economy.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;41745751]Haven't heard much of al-Qaeda recently. How come they fell so silent? Didn't they get a new leader after Osama died?[/QUOTE] Wasn't France in Mali because of AQIM?

Yemen has enough issues without al-Qaeda giving them trouble like this.

Is the al-Qaeda now even that organized? I know for a fact that the African brigade is more organized.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;41745751]Haven't heard much of al-Qaeda recently. How come they fell so silent? Didn't they get a new leader after Osama died?[/QUOTE] The press had nothing to keep them on top of the news with.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;41745751]Haven't heard much of al-Qaeda recently. How come they fell so silent? Didn't they get a new leader after Osama died?[/QUOTE] Ayman al-Zawahiri is pretty much the 2nd in command in al-Qaeda. He ordered a lot of attacks and was probably behind this one as well. [editline]7th August 2013[/editline] [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-is-said-to-have-ordered-terrorist-attack/2013/08/05/9eb4799e-fe1b-11e2-bd97-676ec24f1f3f_story.html[/url]

[QUOTE=shian;41747180]Is the al-Qaeda now even that organized? I know for a fact that the African brigade is more organized.[/QUOTE] Odds are it wasn't 100% al-Qaeda but them working with a number of allied organizations and militias. These days, you don't really hear much about al-Qaeda itself doing anything so much as "al-Qaeda backed" or "al-Qaeda linked" groups.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;41745751]Haven't heard much of al-Qaeda recently. How come they fell so silent? Didn't they get a new leader after Osama died?[/QUOTE] Probably because they got tired of being killed by Coalition forces, then after we left, the ones that were left went to go fight somewhere else (Syria) because that's all they know how to do