Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for attack on Koreans in Yemen

Mar 27, 2009, 12:12 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - An al-Qaeda wing in Yemen on Friday claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that killed four South Korean tourists in south-eastern Yemen this month, saying it was retaliation the killing of two comrades by police.

In a statement posted on Jihadist web sites, the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group, said the March 15 attack in the south-eastern province of Hadhramout was was intended to avenge the killing of leading al-Qaeda members in Yemen Hamza al-Quaiti and Abdullah Ba-Tais in a police sting operation last August.

It said the attack was carried out also in response to 'South Korea's role in the war on Islam as it allied with crusader forces under the guise of a war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.'

The statement named the suicide attacker with his alias Abu-Obaida al-Jarrah. Authorities have identified the attacker as the 18-year-old Abdul-Rahman Mahdi al-Ujairi.

Authorities have blamed the attack on al-Qaeda. Officials have said a second attack that targeted South Korean investigators in Sana'a three days later was also the work of al-Qaeda.

Yemen's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that police forces had arrested six suspected al-Qaeda militants who were plotting 12 attacks on oil installations, foreign interests and tourists in the country.