Islamic State Attacks Yemeni Government Counter Terrorism Center, Killing 14

On February 24^th in the city of Aden in southern Yemen 14 people were killed and another 40 wounded during an attack on a Yemeni government counterterrorism center.

The attack took place in an area called Gold Mohr in Aden’s Tawahi district. Security sources said two suicide bombers detonated cars filled with explosives at the camp’s entrance just before six attackers attempted to enter the camp but were killed by guards. Many of the dead were soldiers, but a woman and two children were also killed.

This was the first terrorist attack since battles broke out last month between the Yemeni government and separatists over the control for Aden. Aden is the temporary capital of Yemen’s Hadi Government. The traditional Yemeni capital of Sanaa remains in the hands of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels after being captured early in the ongoing civil war.

Islamic State (IS) claimed the attack on their Amaq website. Over the past few years the IS has repeatedly attacked Aden mainly targeting government forces and Shia mosques.

As the civil war in Yemen continues to create problems for U.S. Counterterrorism operations. In December of 2017 the U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that the U.S. had launched “multiple ground operations” in Yemen and that the IS has doubled in size throughout 2017. The IS fighters are fleeing the fallen strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul through secret deals with Kurdish or other Arab forces and making their way to Yemen.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) also said that the U.S. had conducted more than 120 airstrikes against al-Qaeda and the IS throughout 2017.

Up until these statements, very little was known about U.S. involvement within Yemen. In January of 2017 officials acknowledge a ground raid against al-Qaeda where one Navy Seal was killed.

The goal of the U.S. attacks was to disrupt the IS and al-Qaeda from using ungoverned spaces in Yemen as a hub for recruitment.

Donald Trump said in his National Security Strategy that “We crushed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq,” “and will continue pursuing them until they are destroyed.”

In order to do that the Trump administration will need to do more than “destroy” the IS with airstrikes. As long as Yemen remains a largely ungovernable space, it will continue to draw IS fighters and attacks will continue.