Homeland Security News

Western embassies in Yemen heightened security measures on Thursday after increasingly bold attacks on foreigners by al Qaeda, even as the militant Islamists lost ground to an army offensive in the south.  The government's offensive is the most concerted campaign against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - seen by Washington as one of the group's most lethal wings - in nearly two years. The group has been blamed for deadly attacks against security forces, foreigners and oil and gas facilities.

Yemen has said its forces captured Azzan, the last major militant bastion they have been targeting in an offensive that began 10 days ago. Washington is keen to prevent any spillover of violence into neighboring oil power Saudi Arabia and to stop Yemen being used as a springboard to attack Western targets.  The European Union said on Thursday it had limited its presence in Yemen to essential staff, while France ordered its diplomats to restrict their movement. On Wednesday, the United States announced a suspension of operations at its embassy.

Read more:  Reuters

Yemeni and Saudi officials today announced to Arabic media sources the completion of DNA testing on the corpse of an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militant killed in a US drone strike on the night of April 20-21. The officials confirmed that the DNA testing revealed that the corpse was neither that of Nasir al Wuhayshi, AQAP's emir and al Qaeda general manager, nor Ibrahim al Asiri, known as AQAP's master bomb maker.

Following the US drone strike during the night of April 20-21 in Shabwa, after which Yemeni helicopters landed at the site, suspicions emerged as to whether Asiri or another prominent AQAP figure was killed. On April 23, a Saudi official told Arabic news sources that Yemen had transferred the corpse of an AQAP militant who was killed in the US drone strikes on April 20-21 to Saudi Arabia for DNA testing. The Saudi official said the slain militant was a Saudi believed to have held a prominent role in the terrorist organization.

Read more: Long War Journal

Syrian rebels blew up a hotel used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday, destroying the building and causing widespread damage, state media and a monitoring group said.

The rebels detonated explosives in a tunnel underneath the Carlton Hotel, which is situated next to Aleppo's medieval citadel, they said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were fatalities in the blast but gave no details. State television said the hotel was destroyed and several nearby buildings were damaged.

Source:  Reuters

A bomb planted by suspected Taliban insurgents ripped through a truck carrying troops in Pakistan's tribal region on Thursday, killing nine soldiers and wounding more than a dozen, officials said, with the death toll expected to rise.

The daylight attack, one of the biggest on Pakistani security forces in months, deals a major blow to the army at a time when Pakistan is already under strong U.S. pressure to do more to contain the insurgency on its western frontier.

The army said the bomb was planted in a truck carrying soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps. It exploded as it was moving along the Afghan border where many al Qaeda-linked militant groups are holed up.

Read More:  Reuters