MARIB, Yemen: A Yemeni security official told Bikyamasr.com's correspondent in Marib that armed militias had once again sabotaged an oil pipeline, cutting off Yemen's flow of crude oil towards its main export terminal in the southern Shabwa province. Preliminary reports point towards another al-Qaeda attack. “A huge blaze could been seen hours after the explosion took place,” said an official on site. Local residents revealed that al-Qaeda militants were everywhere in the province now, saying that they did not believe the central government was in position to fight them off. “They are hardened fighters, those al-Qaeda people….with the army being so divided right now I don't think we stand a chance,” said Hussein Badr, a tribesman from Shabwa. The Defense Minister himself, Mohamed Nasser Ahmed also confirmed the popular belief that the army was failing in its stand against the Islamic terror group, by saying that splits within the armed forces rendered Yemen unable to properly address the threat. Mujahedeen (holy warriors) blew up an oil pipeline at Mafrak al-Saeed district in the southeast province of Shabwa on Monday night, in retaliation for recent United States air raids in Azzan,” the terrorist group said in a statement. Continuous attacks against the country's oil infrastructures is pushing the impoverished nation to the brink of economic apoplexy, forcing the government to import all petroleum products and equating to hundreds of millions of income loss.
