Officials confirmed on Wednesday that Admiral Qasim Laboza, commander of the Second Armoured Brigade in Shabwa had managed to escape an assassination attack as he was traveling through an area located near the seaport of Belhaf, home to Yemen LNG terminal. While the Admiral was suffered some injuries, none believed to be life-threatening, members of his staff were sadly not as lucky.
"The motorcade of Admiral Qasim Laboza, commander of the Second Armoured Brigade in Shabwa, was attacked as he passed through an area near the Belhaf port on the Gulf of Aden, leaving two dead and one seriously wounded from his entourage," officials were quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Since Admiral Laboza is in charge of Shabwa oil facilities security, officials in Sana’a noted under cover of anonymity that the targeted assassination bid aimed to disrupt security in and around Belhaf and leave one of Yemen’s most strategic sites open to sabotage.
Although no group has of yet claimed responsibility for the attack, security experts stressed that the attack carried the Modus Operandi of al-Qaeda. Local officials confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that an investigation had been launched.
If attacks against high ranking military and intelligence officers have become somewhat of an occupational hazard in Yemen, the boldness of terror militants and the frequency of such targeted assassinations have been a source of deep concern as it highlights Yemen’ security vacuum and al-Qaeda’s reach.
Moreover, the idea that al-Qaeda could aim to target Yemen’s key industries to exert pressure onto the government and further promote unrest has had experts call for the implementation of a tighter security measures.