In March 2009, two suicide bombings took place in Yemen targeting nationals of South Korea. The first bombing was on 15 March in Shibam, Hadhramaut, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and popular tourist attraction. A suicide bomber waiting atop a hill encountered a South Korean tourist group and asked for a photograph with them before blowing himself up, killing four tourists and their Yemeni guide. Later on 18 March, a motorcade transporting a South Korean delegation investigating the incident as well as the victims' relatives was attacked by another suicide bomber near Sanaa International Airport, although they escaped unharmed.
The bombings were claimed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which cited them as revenge for South Korea's involvement in the war on terror among other reasons. The group released a video claiming to have known the exact movements of the convoy in Sanaa while showcasing the perpetrators of the bombings; Abd al-Rahman Mahdi al-Ujayri and Khaled al-Dhayani. The South Korean response team was involved in a Yemeni-led investigation into the first bombing and left shortly after the second bombing, as officials questioned whether the targeting of their citizens was predetermined. Yemeni authorities accused a 12-man cell of planning the attacks and announced the arrest of six members on 25 March. They later concluded in June that AQAP did not specifically target South Koreans but instead foreigners in general.
The South Korean foreign ministry condemned the bombings and implemented increased precautions for diplomatic facilities while urging its citizens to avoid Yemen. The attacks were denounced in Yemen and harmed the tourist industry of Shibam, while the second bombing prompted scrutiny from the House of Representatives over the potential compromise of security forces. Analysts interpreted the bombings as a sign of AQAP's growing strength.
Background
The bombings followed numerous other attacks throughout the previous years by al-Qaeda in Yemen against tourists and foreign interests. It also followed the merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda and the formation of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in January 2009. In the video announcing its formation, AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi threatened attacks on Western nationals in the region. Field commander Mohammed al-Awfi was captured and extradited to Saudi Arabia the next month in what was considered a blow to the organization at the time.
Bombings
Shibam, 15 March On 15 March 2009, at approximately 5:50 p.m. local time, a suicide bomber attacked a group of South Korean tourists in Shibam, a town in Hadhramaut. Shibam was a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and major tourist attraction in Yemen renowned for its ancient mudbrick architecture. The attack occurred on the hill of Khazzan which overlooks the town and was a popular spot for taking photographs. Rather than a suicide vest, the bomber was equipped with a "rectangular, ten-centimeter-deep metal box" storing an explosive with a picture frame and painting of a waterfall bolted over for concealment.
The bomber scouted for the largest possible group of tourists to attack, interacting with other tourists in the meantime. He eventually spotted the South Koreans who were admiring the scene and taking photographs of Shibam at sunset. Citing official sources, NewsYemen claimed the bomber had asked for a picture with the tourists and posed with them shortly before blowing himself up. He reportedly was chewing khat, which has effects similar to amphetamines, and tried to move children away from the vicinity.
The Korean group consisted of sixteen tourists and two travel agency staff who had arrived in Yemen on 9 March. Shibam was included in the tour due to its "scenic landscape and its relative safety" according to Themesay Tour, the travel agency based in Seoul which operated the tour. Only thirteen of the eighteen people in the group went to Shibam as the others were staying at their hotel.
The bombing killed four South Korean tourists and one Yemeni tour guide. Three tourists and one Yemeni were also wounded. The victims were taken to a hospital in Seiyun before transferred to Sanaa, while the other tourists were taken to a hotel for preparations to leave Yemen. The twelve surviving tourists, including those injured, returned to South Korea through an Emirates flight, stopping in Dubai before arriving at Incheon International Airport in Seoul on 17 March. The remains of those killed were transported to Incheon International Airport on 19 March, along with their relatives who had travelled to Yemen to bring them back.
Sanaa, 18 March On 18 March, a South Korean government delegation sent in response to the first bombing was attacked in the capital Sanaa. The delegation was travelling in a convoy consisting of a Yemeni police car at the front followed by one vehicle carrying foreign ministry secretary Jang Dae-kyo, senior advisor , and tour organizer Ma Kyong-Chan, and another vehicle with three relatives of the victims and foreign ministry employee Lee Myung-kwang. The group had left Shahran Hotel and was heading to Sanaa International Airport to depart from Yemen. A Yemeni official said security forces were anticipating a possible attack at the airport.
Citing a local newspaper, Jane Novak of FDD's Long War Journal reported that AQAP obtained information on the route and timing of the convoy. A suicide bomber was dispatched with a explosive-rigged cassette player. He positioned himself on the road by the gates of the al-Dailami Air Base which is part of the airport on the outskirts of Sanaa. At 8:40 a.m. local time (2:40 p.m. KST), as the convoy neared the airport and slowed down amidst heavy traffic, the bomber walked towards them and blew himself up between the first and second vehicles. However, he detonated his explosives seconds after the vehicles had already passed, killing only himself and harming no others, while shattering car windows. The bereaved relatives later boarded their flight returning to South Korea on schedule.
Responsibility Although initially going unclaimed, the Yemeni government quickly attributed the attacks to al-Qaeda. The first bombing was eventually claimed by AQAP through an internet statement issued on 26 March, citing it as an attempt to "expel the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula" and revenge for the killing of Soldiers' Brigade of Yemen leader Hamza al-Qaiti by local security forces the previous August. According to the statement, the South Koreans were targeted due to their country's involvement in the Iraq War and war in Afghanistan among other reasons, including their role in "corrupting the ideology of Muslims and their morals" and for spreading Christianity. The group reportedly claimed the second bombing in April and said it was meant to underscore the lack of security for South Koreans in Yemen.
A video titled "I Have Won I Swear to Kaaba's God" was released through AQAP's al-Malahem Media Foundation in June containing details on the attacks. The video claimed the bombings were premeditated and they had knowledge of the South Korean response teams' movements prior to the second bombing. It included the two bombers, Abd al-Rahman Mahdi Ali Qasim al-Ujayri and Khaled al-Dhayani, delivering statements addressed to their families along with visuals of the improvised explosive devices they were fitted with, possibly to disprove the notion that the attackers used explosive belts.
Per the Yemeni government, reports emerged that the bombers had attended training camps in Somalia belonging to the local al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabaab. Analyst Gregory D. Johnsen disputed these claims as unsubstantiated and intended for the government to save face. Journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who interviewed Wuhayshi earlier in the year, said he was told AQAP "doesn't need support from Somalia".
Ujayri, the first bombings' perpetrator, was an 18-year-old from Taiz who fled his family home after security forces raided it to arrest him. After wandering through the streets of Sanaa, he was recruited into AQAP's suicide bomber division in October 2008. Government reports claimed Ujayri's recruiter, Omer Hassan al-Mahfali al-Raimi, brought him to an Islamic institution in Sanaa where he resided until December, although this was denied by institution which said Ujayri was not in their records and the alleged time period he was there for was during a holiday. Two months before the bombing, Ujayri's mother received a letter attributed to him in which he defended his choice to embark on jihad and pleaded for her acceptance.
Dhayani was a 20-year-old from Sanaa who "had been traveling far from his family to pursue Islamic studies" according to AQAP, and escaped a security cordon around his family home in an attempt to arrest him before joining AQAP. The group claimed Dhayani and Ujayri befriended each other during their training, and that after the latter's death Dhayani requested that he be given a suicide mission as well, whereupon he was assigned to conduct the second bombing. The AQAP video featured Dhayani being groomed as a suicide bomber as well as his final will and testament, in which he stated to his mother "This is better for me than life in their prisons,... Don't listen to anyone who speaks ill of us."
Investigation
The Yemeni government immediately launched an inquiry after the first bombing. In South Korea, an emergency meeting between government agencies headed by vice foreign minister led to the dispatch of a response team to Yemen, consisting of two foreign ministry official and representatives from the National Police Agency and National Intelligence Service. They arrived on 16 March and were involved in a preliminary investigation, including an inspection of the crime scene and interviews with Yemeni officials.
Investigators deliberated over the nature of the bombing before it was verified on 16 March. Local authorities arrested 12 Islamists who could have information on the actual perpetrators. By 17 March, the preliminary investigation led by Yemen determined the incident was a "planned suicide bomb attack" but did not establish if the targeting of Koreans was predetermined. Conflicting reports on the perpetrator had also emerged, with the official Saba News Agency initially reporting that he was "tricked by al-Qaeda into wearing an explosives vest". Investigators found his remains and an identity card which indicated his name was Ali Mohsen al-Ahmad. He was later correctly identified as Ujayri. His name appeared in a list of 161 most wanted individuals published by the government earlier in March. Authorities searched his residence and recovered information on those involved in planning the attack.
The South Korean response team intended to remain in Yemen despite the second bombing to continue their investigation into the first incident. They completed their mission and returned to South Korea on 22 March. A senior South Korean official told Yonhap News Agency: "It's too early to conclude the incidents as terrorist attacks against South Koreans, but the possibility remains high given South Korean nationals were attacked twice". Foreign ministry spokesperson acknowledged an investigation was ongoing, and said there was uncertainty as to if the bomber intended to target Yemeni officials because the convoy was led by a police car. One official backed this theory by claiming it was a VIP convoy used by the Yemeni president, although Ma disputed this and said it consisted of standard civilian vehicles.