Five injured in bombing on south Yemen police

ADEN, Yemen - Five policemen were seriously injured in south Yemen when an attacker on a motorbike threw a hand grenade at them, a security official said.

By (Reuters)

Published: Thu 19 Aug 2010, 6:50 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 5:49 AM

The midnight bombing on Wednesday at the police station of Jaar, a town in the southern province of Abyan, was the latest in a string of attacks on security personnel in south Yemen since June, most of which have been claimed by al Qaeda.

Security forces have launched a search for the attacker, the official told Reuters. He said the bombing followed gunbattles in Jaar between security forces in and unidentified gunmen.

Al Qaeda’s campaign against government forces in southern Yemen marks a widening of tactics for the global militant group’s Yemen arm, which has clashed with authorities for many years but previously focused on attacks against foreign targets.

With U.S.-backing, the government has launched a crackdown against al Qaeda, who had long made use of Yemen’s impenetrable mountains and deserts to hide and set up training camps.

Security forces said on Thursday that Hazam Majali, an al Qaeda militant who was convicted for participating in a 2002 attack on the French flagged oil tanker Limburg off Yemen, and several other militants turned themselves in to police, the Defence Ministry’s newspaper 26 September reported.

In 2006, Majali and 23 other militants escaped from a jail in Sanaa, enabling al Qaeda to revive its regional wing.

Western powers have long feared that al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia, to strengthen its operations and launch attacks abroad. In December the group claimed an attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound passenger plane.

The recent al Qaeda attacks against the security apparatus came as violence between the state forces and southern separatists rose to its worst level since a 1994 civil war.

A woman passerby was killed by stray gunfire on Wednesday in clashes between a southern separatist and policemen. Three policemen were also injured in the fighting.

North and south Yemen united in 1990, but many in the South, home to most Yemen oil facilities, feel northerners commandeer their resources while denying them political rights.

The government is also still reeling from the latest round of an intermittent six year war against northern rebels that ended with a truce in February. (Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashef; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Erika Solomon; editing by Diana Abdallah)

U.S. jobless claims touch 9-mth high WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, government data showed on Thursday, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday’s report.

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state level data. The data covered the survey week for the government’s closely watched employment report for August, scheduled for release early next month.

The four-week average of new jobless claims, considered a better measure of underlying labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 8,000 to 482,500, the highest since early December.

Claims for unemployment benefits have been stuck at lofty levels for much of this year, which many economists say points to unemployment staying uncomfortably high for some time.

The number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 13,000 to 4.48 million in the week ended August 7 from an upwardly revised 4.49 million the prior week. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast so-called continuing claims rising to 4.50 million from a previously reported 4.45 million.

The insured unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of the insured labor force that is jobless, was unchanged at 3.5 percent during that period.

The number of people on emergency benefits increased 260,105 to 4.75 million in the week ended July 31.