Combined Maritime Forces warn that Al Qaeda has shifted its focus on Yemeni waterway posing a growing threat to merchant ships transiting the area despite efforts by Yemeni government forces and their allies to repel the Islamist militants.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) confirmed on Saturday it had withdrawn from the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla – a week after Yemeni government and Emirati soldiers seized the city that was used by the Islamist militants to amass a fortune.
”AQAP has taken advantage of that chaos and moved into the void. In doing so they have gotten stronger,” Captain William Nault, Chief of staff for the multinational Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) stated to Reuters
Nault said AQAP had a “stated capability and intent to conduct a maritime terrorist attack”, which was something “we look at very hard”.
“I would assess that as getting worse over the last year instead of better,” he said on a visit to London.
”That threat would be against a soft target meaning an industry ship passing or going in and out of … the Red Sea towards the eastern end of Yemen.”
Further details may be found by reading the article – Al Qaeda in Yemen poses growing threat to shipping: naval force