2013 Sanaa shootings
{{Short description|2013 militant attack in Yemen}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = 2013 Sanaa shootings
| partof = Yemeni Crisis (2011-present)
| image =
| caption =
| date = 26 November 2013
| type = shooting
| target =
| fatalities = 3 (1 died in hospital)
| injuries = 1 (died in hospital)
|perps = {{flagicon image|ShababFlag.svg}} Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
}}
{{Campaignbox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen since 1992}}
{{Campaignbox Yemeni Crisis}}
On November 26, 2013, unidentified persons carried out two attacks in Sanaa, Yemen. The victims of the attacks were two {{ill|Military specialists of Belarus|lt=Belarusian military specialists|be|Ваенныя спецыялісты Беларусі}} and a Yemeni policeman.
Background
In the early 2010s, the Yemeni government, led by the nationalist General People's Congress Party, which was predominantly Sunni, waged an armed struggle against the Shiite Houthi movement. The third force in the conflict were the south Yemeni separatists and Islamist groups.
At least two Belarusians were sent in 2013 to support the Yemeni security forces. According to the official statement of the Belarusian government, they worked in the protection of the president. According to military analyst Alexander Alesin, the main task was to assist in the maintenance of T-80BV tanks purchased by Yemen in Belarus in 2010.Александр Алесин. Списанные в Беларуси танки воюют в Йемене // Naviny.by (20 октября 2014) These vehicles were repeatedly used during the fighting.[https://42.tut.by/432301 Несколько белорусских танков Т-80БВ потеряно в бою с повстанцами в Йемене] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423185451/https://42.tut.by/432301 |date=2021-04-23 }} // TUT.BY, 21 января 2015
Attacks
At 9:15 a.m. on November 26, 2013, when leaving the Amsterdam Hotel in the center of Sanaa, Belarusians came under fire from militants who drove up to the building on a motorcycle. The militants were armed with a pistol or a machine gun with a silencer. One of the foreigners, an employee of the 140th repair plant Anatoly Mazynsky from Barysaw, died on the spot, and the second, whose identity is unknown, was seriously injured. Two hours after the attack, motorcyclists (presumably the same ones who shot at the hotel) killed police officer Ahmed al-Jaadari on Khovlian Street. On November 27, it became known that the second Belarusian victim died of wounds in the hospital.[https://news.rambler.ru/world/22383169-mvd-yemena-podtverdilo-ubiystvo-dvuh-voennyh-sovetnikov-iz-belorussii/ МВД Йемена подтвердило убийство двух военных советников из Белоруссии] // Рамблер, 27 ноября 2013[https://ria.ru/20131127/980026130.html Расстрелянные в Йемене белорусы работали по официальным контрактам] // РИА Новости, 27 ноября 2013
Reaction
Initially, the media reported that the victims of the attack at the hotel were Russians. However, the press attache of the Russian embassy in Yemen, Nikolai Lyagushin, called the victims Belarusians, refuting the information about Russian citizens. According to him, they worked in the country under a private contract, and the diplomatic mission provided all the necessary assistance to the victims. The representative of the Yemeni Foreign Ministry, сolonel Mohammed al-Mauri, said that foreigners are military specialists. According to Maria Vanshina, deputy head of the Information Department of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, the Belarusian side has started checking this information. Soon, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs {{ill|Andrei Savinykh|be|Андрэй Уладзіміравіч Савіных}}[https://news.tut.by/society/376356.html Два белоруса стали жертвами нападения в Йемене: один убит, второй в критическом состоянии] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423185451/https://news.tut.by/society/376356.html |date=2021-04-23 }} // TUT.BY, 26 ноября 2013 and the head of the {{ill|State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus|lt=State Military Industry|be|Дзяржаўны ваенна-прамысловы камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь}} {{ill|Sergei Gurulev|be|Сяргей Пятровіч Гурулёў}}[https://news.tut.by/accidents/376480.html Военные, которые пострадали в Йемене, работали по белорусскому контракту] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120093533/https://news.tut.by/accidents/376480.html |date=2019-01-20 }} // TUT.BY, 27 ноября 2013 confirmed that the victims were Belarusians.
Attackers
No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Yemeni media speculated that the attack was a retaliatory action by Al-Qaeda. Two days earlier, government aircraft destroyed 12 members of the terrorist network.[https://www.rbc.ru/society/26/11/2013/570413989a794761c0ce4136 После обстрела белорусов в Йемене боевики совершили новое убийство] // РБК, 26 ноября 2013
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Mohammed Ghobari. [https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKBRE9AP07020131126 Gunmen kill two Belarus military instructors in Yemen] // Reuters (NOVEMBER 26, 2013).
{{Terrorism in Yemen}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanaa shootings, 2013}}
Category:2013 murders in Yemen
Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 2013
Category:2013 mass shootings in Asia
Category:Terrorist incidents in Yemen in 2013
Category:21st century in Sanaa
Category:Terrorist incidents attributed to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Category:November 2013 crimes in Asia
Category:Military history of Sanaa
Category:21st-century mass murder in Yemen
Category:Mass shootings in Yemen
Category:Attacks on hotels in Asia
Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Yemen
Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 2013
Category:Belarusian people murdered abroad
Category:2013 in international relations