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Gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists in eastern Yemen on Jan. 18, killing two Belgians and one Yemeni, a security official reported.

Gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists in eastern Yemen on Jan. 18, killing two Belgians and one Yemeni, a security official reported. One Belgian and two Yemenis also were wounded in the attack.

According to the security official, a tourist group of about 15 people, including the driver and tour guides, were attacked. Security forces are still in pursuit of the attackers. Though there is always the possibility that this incident was a carjacking gone wrong or the work of tribal rebels in opposition to the government, the attack was likely the work of jihadist elements operating in Yemen.

Yemen sits at the geographical crossroads of four jihadist theaters: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan/Pakistan. The country is the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has given rise to a local al Qaeda node known as al Qaeda of the Jihad in Yemen, led by a man who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Hureira al-Sanaani.


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