Yemen’s Information Minister Escapes Assassination Attempt

Yemen’s Information Minister, Ali al-Amrani, was leaving a cabinet meeting Tuesday when gunman fired multiple rounds into his car. He managed to escape the assassination attempt, though, and was not injured.

Al-Amrani was once a member of President Saleh’s ruling party, the General People’s Congress (GPC). However, he quit the party after protests started and joined the opposition. Saleh has agreed to step down as president and is currently in the United States seeking medical treatment for injuries he received last year during an attack on his presidential palace.

Al-Amrani was named as the country’s information minister after a coalition government was created between the GPC and the opposition. Saleh has agreed to transfer power to Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, his deputy. This is part of a plan to avoid civil war in the country.

The country is currently in the midst of a security crisis, as militant groups are becoming increasing violent. There have been multiple drone strikes against al-Qaeda and al-Sharia militants in the country by the United States. Some reports say that as many as fifteen people were killed; other estimates put the number of deaths at nine. There were no civilian casualties reported and it was one of the most effective drone strikes the United States has had in Yemen.

Yemen is a haven for al-Qaeda. There have been a number of al-Qaeda leaders that have been killed by such drone strikes in recent months. Some tribal leaders report that Abdel-Munem al-Fatahani was one of the leaders that was killed. The militant organization, though, say that Fatahani is still alive. Another leader that was killed was Anwar al-Awlaki. His death is believed to have severely crippled al-Qaeda’s ability to launch international attacks, although there are sure to be local attacks on various targets.

There is little doubt that more members of the coalition government may become targets of al-Qaeda, although al-Qaeda has not yet claimed responsibility for today’s attack on the information minister.

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