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December 28, 2013
By Abu Bakr al-Yamani, Waleed Abu al-Khair and Mohammed al-Qaisi
The recent murder of doctors and nurses at al-Ordhi hospital inside the Yemeni Ministry of Defence complex mirrors al-Qaeda’s previous targeting of medical personnel in Syria and Iraq, security and medical experts said.
While al-Qaeda’s kidnappings and murders aim to discourage medical staffs from performing their duties and to demonstrate its power, these attacks only help increase public resentment of al-Qaeda, they said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) initially claimed responsibility for the December 5th attack on al-Ordhi hospital in Sanaa in which gunmen dressed in military uniforms opened fire on anyone in their path, including women, children, doctors and nurses, killing 56 people.
But in a subsequent video message AQAP military commander Qassem al-Rimi claimed the assailant acted alone and “did not follow instructions”, in an attempt to distance the organisation from the attack, which sparked outrage and condemnation.
“Doctors, nurses and other civilians have become a direct target for al-Qaeda and were not targeted in error, as the organisation’s leaders’ claim,” said al-Jamhi Centre for Studies and Research head Saeed al-Jamhi.
Al-Qaeda militants did target the hospital in their assault, and “they did not stop there, for they spread throughout the building to kill doctors and nurses and all who survived the blast”, al-Jamhi said.
Not a new phenomenon
While al-Qaeda’s targeting of doctors may be a new occurrence in Yemen, it is not new in Iraq and Syria, where doctors are regularly targeted by the organisation, al-Jamhi said.“Terrorism is now eating away at al-Qaeda’s body and has driven it to the stage of insanity in its killing of civilians,” he said.
“Al-Qaeda or its remaining scattered cells are operating without a clear vision and with obvious confusion,” said strategic affairs researcher Saeed Abdul Momen.
“The battle that took place at the Ministry of Defence was beyond its capability and the crimes committed against the wounded and civilians were horrific,” he said, adding that the broadcast images “showed the hideousness of its actions and utter lack of compassion and humanity”.
“For that reason, the organisation claimed responsibility, then backtracked, then once again claimed responsibility for it in an attempt to claim victory and at the same time wash its hands clean of the crime of killing civilians and doctors,” he said.
This proves al-Qaeda is lacking real leadership and is willing to claim responsibility for any attack in order to demonstrate its “strength, cruelty and tyranny”, Abdul Momen said.
It matters not to al-Qaeda how much killing and shedding of innocent blood takes place as long as it succeeds in striking terror into people’s hearts, he added.
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