Al Qaeda fighters have taken control of a town 100 miles southeast of Sana'a and freed 150 inmates from its central prison. Fifty armed militants met "little resistance" from security forces on Saturday when they entered the town of Rada'a in al Bayda governorate on Saturday. Tareq al Dhahab, their leader, is the brother-in-law of radical Islamist cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike last September.
Yemeni Foreign Minister and Saleh regime insider Abu Bakr al Qirbi announced Monday that the expansion of al Qaeda in the south could delay the presidential election scheduled for February 21. The announcement is expected to exacerbate the protest movement throughout Yemen. Military leader al Dhabab’s brother accused security forces of colluding with the al Qaeda operatives in the seizure of Rada'a in an interview on Monday, further increasing the chances of a protest movement backlash.
A Norwegian U.N. official was kidnapped in Sana'a over the weekend. His captors are from Ma'rib, the oil-rich governorate adjacent to Sana'a, and are reportedly demanding the release of a man suspected of killing two security force members.
A 48-hour deadline for armed forces to withdraw from Sana'a passed Saturday with no result. A committee formed to demilitarize the capital had issued the deadline on Thursday. Republican Guard troops and tribal fighters remain in the city, and the violence continues.
The Critical Threats Project has been tracking developments closely in Yemen as they unfold. Gulf of Aden team lead Katherine Zimmerman will provide regular analysis of the situation sent out as Quick Takes. A map of the situation in Yemen and previous updates can be found in the archive of the situation reports.
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