According to several media reports, al-Qaeda Yemen would be plotting to assassinate President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi in order to foil the impoverished nation’s institutional progress and revert the country to a state of utter chaos.
Sources close to the presidential palace and Yemen’ s intelligence apparatus have claimed that the terror group aims to eliminate President Hadi as to forward its agenda in the region: the establishment of a permanent base in the Arabian Peninsula. Ambitious, Yemen’s radical Islamists want to carve a state to their image; one they believe will serve as the cornerstone to their global Islamic caliphate.
Strong of its successes in Syria and Iraq, al-Qaeda wants now to establish itself as a legitimate political movement, a move experts have warned will likely lead to more violence as militants will directly engage the military to seize territories.
Such phenomenon has already begun in Yemen, where Islamic militants have attempted on several occasions to claim control over specific areas by targeting military outposts and bases.
Officials at the presidential palace have noted that al-Qaeda’s plan to target President Hadi has a lot to do with the president’s resolve to oppose Islamic radicalism in all its forms. Deeply committed to eradicating terror from Yemen, President Hadi has essentially become a target.
In the light of recent terror attacks, security experts have advocated caution, stressing that no officials, especially not the president should assume to be beyond reach; especially since al-Qaeda Yemen has proven to be so lethally efficient in running sophisticated campaigns.