Yearbook 2008
 The Yemeni government was crowded during the year by both
Shia and Sunni Muslim extremists. The ceasefire entered into
in 2007 between the government and Shiite Muslim militants
from the al-Huthi clan was broken in January, when at least
25 rebels and 18 government soldiers were killed in fighting
in the northern Sada region. The fighting flared up again in
April and on April 18, Salih al-Hindi Daghsan, MP for the
ruling party party General People's Congress (GPC), was shot
dead in Sada with his son and bodyguard. The identity of the
perpetrators was unknown.
According to
Countryaah reports, at least 18 people were killed on May 2 when an explosive
charge exploded outside a mosque in the provincial capital
of Sada City. Authorities accused al-Huthirebeller of the
act but one of the group's leaders condemned the attack. In
the days following the act, dozens of people were killed in
fighting that also spread to the neighboring province of
Amran. On May 30, eight people were killed in Amran when a
man opened fire inside a mosque. al-Huthi rebels leader Abd
al-Malik al-Huthi was reported June 8 to have been killed in
a missile attack.
Further south, in the capital, Sana, it was by all to
judge Sunni extremists who were responsible for the
violence. During the spring and summer, a series of attacks
were directed at, among other things, the US embassy and
foreign oil companies. On September 17, 16 people were
killed - four civilians, including one American, as well as
six Yemeni security men and six assailants - as two car
bombs exploded outside the US embassy. The Islamic Jihad
group assumed responsibility for the deed, but there were
suspicions that the attackers came from Saudi Arabia.
Two Belgian women and their Yemeni driver were murdered
on January 18 when they were attacked in a valley in the
Hadramawt region in the eastern part of the country. It was
unclear who was behind the deed.
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