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Reuters
People inspect the scene of a suicide car bomb outside the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla on Saturday.
Updated at 11:18 a.m. ET: SANAA, Yemen -- A suicide car bomb claimed by al-Qaida killed at least 26 people outside a presidential palace in southern Yemen Saturday, hours after Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn as Yemen's new president with the job of bringing stability to an increasingly chaotic nation.
The car was driven at a palace in the port city of Mukalla, Yemen's fourth-largest city, far from the capital Sanaa where Hadi was sworn in. Dozens were injured, and the governor of Hadramout province said most of the dead were members of the national army, the Republican Guard.
"Al-Qaida is responsible for the suicide bombing in Mukalla in retaliation for the Republican Guard's crimes," an al-Qaida source told Reuters. Sanaa, scene of much fighting in recent months between factions of the army supporting protesters and units loyal to Saleh, was relatively quiet, however.
After taking the oath, Hadi had singled out al-Qaida, whose active Arabian Peninsula branch is based in Yemen, as a top priority for his new administration: "Continuing the war against al-Qaida is a national and religious duty."
The former army general was elected as the sole candidate to replace Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had led Yemen for three decades but was pushed out by months of street protests sparked by the Arab Spring, and supervise a transition to democracy.
While the street protests and bouts of bloody repression by security forces have subsided, Yemen remains in turmoil from mass poverty, unemployment and corruption, rebellions in the north and south, and the threat from al-Qaida.
Saudi Arabia and the United States long saw Saleh as the main bulwark against al-Qaida in Yemen, which sits on one of the world's main oil shipping routes, but threw their weight behind a power transfer deal as protests against him grew.
Hadi said in a speech that Yemen must draw a line under a year of protests and violence and turn its attention to economic problems and the job of returning those displaced by the crisis to their homes.
Jamal Benomar, U.N. envoy to Yemen, said: "Yemenis want an end to the crisis, and to turn a new page. Now it's time to rebuild, for consensus and concord ... and to bring people into an inclusive political process."
The U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, said: "We are seeing the beginning of a process that I believe will deliver great results over the next two years."
Hadi now has the job of overseeing a two-year political transition that foresees parliamentary elections, a new constitution and a restructuring of the military, in which Saleh's son and nephew still hold power.
"I stand here at a historic moment ... I look to the Yemeni people and give them thanks. The crisis reached every city and village and house, but Yemen will continue to go forward," Hadi said.
If we don't deal with challenges practically, then chaos will reign."
Hadi's inauguration ceremony is scheduled for Monday. Saleh, who returned to Yemen early Saturday after seeking treatment in the United States for injuries suffered in an assassination attempt last year, is due to attend.
After Hadi's speech, protesters in the southern city of Aden clashed with security forces, killing one soldier, a local security official said. Two soldiers and two protesters were injured, medics added.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Leave a Comment:
Hopefully we don't see Obama over there in a few days, apologizing and bowing to him.
Way to try derail this historical event with your petty grievances with our Commander in Chief.
hungrymoose,
We were planning on sending YOU.
And NO parachute.
You're a dolt. I bet you yearn for the days of Bush and his cowboy diplomacy don't you?
This Presidential palace is far away from Sanaa (Hadramout). Pres.Obama's dilemma is there are secessionists in Southern Yemen (there used to be South and North Yemen- South being the training grounds for terrorists and wannabes) Yemen is also the original country of Bin Ladens. Now there is the active al Queda taking root- and US drones with missiles are active there too. Innocent people get killed by suicide car bombers or drone missiles.
What is the historial about one seventh century despotic and corrupt ruler replacing another one?
Muslims should rise in rebellion against their feudal and barbaric despotic rulers, especially the Sunnis ones led by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and others.
Next time militants should blow up the presidential palace itself, which is a symbol of despotic and barbaric rules!
RE: The Headline. Cause and effect please?
Gil,
They changed the headline on us after truthful comments about Obama started appearing.
The original headline didn't mention anything about a car bomb.
Im sure this clown will make all the difference. Yet another loon for BO to be scared of.
We have clowns in most of the democratic nations all around us.
But in the ME, especially the Sunni ones like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait and others, we have seventh century, despotic, highly corrupt and bigoted Islamic beasts ruling.
Iran is another one, which has too many mad rulers/beasts!
Mind you: we are in 21st century and ICT age!
Well, at least "this clown" has identified the right target.
Did I wander on fox news by accident?
They are Glenn Beck wannabes in taring. Changing channels to Comedy Central where logic is the topic.
you left out Bill O'reilly, cant have Beck wana bes without O'reilly
Yemen's new president......another middle eastern puppet of the U.S. government.
From time to time I do appreciate your posts. Would you please explain to the readers how this will all play out? Mention Jerusalem and The Temple Mount......
Yemen, when will we be pulling our troops and our CIA ops out of there, or is that some secret that we are not suppose to know about?
"The vice president" you say, brokered by "neighboring Arab countries"?
Would one of those "Arab neighbors" be Qatar? Look folks, whenever you read "Qatar" substitute American-toady-state. Would another of those neighbors be Saudi Arabia? Which invaded and annexed much of Yemen decades ago and is thirsty for more. In fact they re-invaded back in 2009 and have been attacking a strategic corner of Yemen since then (we don't hear much about that, even when Obama lends a hand and fires Cruise missles into that area and kills dozens of women and children - WAR CRIME!).
Guess it is time for Saudi Arabia to send mail bombs thru cargo planes to the US
AGAIN!!
Did you forget?
Saudi Arabia did a false-flag attack. The Saudi Intelligence Agency mailed bombs from Yemen so Yemen militants would be blamed. The most Three-Stooges false-flag EVER! Saudi Arabia had the routing numbers off the packages and phoned them in to us just in time to be the hero. WHO had the routing numbers? WHO would benefit from bringing big brother into the war against Yemen militants?
Why are we removing dictators? It's the extremist radicals who should be removed by ANY means possible.
We need to stay out of every country's business. We have plenty of problems at home that need our attention. The people in the middle east are determined to kill each other off, so we should just let them.
Lets all just hope in November we don't wind up with a republicant that wants to go to another useles war. Let these people do what they have been doing for thousands of years and that is kill eachother.
Arab Spring should spread to all Muslim nations especially the Sunni ruled ones starting from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other nations.
People should throw out their most corrupt, bigoted, despotic and barbaric rulers.
Also, where Shiites form more than 10 percent in a nation, they should form liberation struggles for independence and their own Shiastans.
The Shiites are as bad as the Sunni. Look at Hezbollah and Hamas, both sponsored by Iran thru Syria.
I agree.
My question is: why should we come in between the Shiites and Sunnis Islamic religious cleaning operations.
After their cleaning operations are over, we will worry about the winners.
Sunnis have declared Shiites as infidels. I as an infidel support the comarades: Shiites.
Meanwhile, we will have a breather from these Islamic religious beasts, especially the Sunni ones!
Immediate threats are from ravaging Sunni Muslim beasts.
Let's get our troops out of the Middle East. The Al Quaida have better things to do than try and kill our soldiers, like killing each other. Let's leave them to it but with one thing - let them know if they attack the US, we will retailiate with some of our 2000 nuclear warheads that we've been trying to get rid of. That way them and the countries they reside in will be forewarned.
As a reasonably intelligent human being, I truly do not understand these animals. I use the term animals, but even animals do not kill their own kind strictly for their own amusement. How could these "things" possibly believe that the rest of the known non-muslim world would want to convert to a belief system ( I will not call it a religion) when their Allah obviously has no love or respect for that which he has supposedly created. If God wants something destroyed, He certainly needs no human's help in accomplishing this. If you feel the need to kill something, start with yourself and take no others with you. God will love you for it. May peace be upon you and your eternally damned soul.
I realize shooting rounds off was the norm for celebrating in these places, but come on, a car bomb?
Just another day in Islam. Boom, boom, what's for breakfast? Did you hear they just blew up the corner store and 26 people were killed? That's nice honey now get ready for school. This is about how important killing is in Islam.
How to attract Muslims to a bomb: Put out a sign that says "free hashish", then just wait until they gather.
How about "Join the fight against the Great Satan. Training starts today. Sign up before it's too late."
Does it make any difference who leads Yemen? The crazy ones on either side of the issue will continue to kill until they get their own way. Just another example of why we need to be free of involvement in this part of the world.
Crazy Arabs killing crazy Arabs. What else is new? The good news is that some time in the not too distant future, there will only be one left and we've reserved a drone for him.
A draft constitution should have been circulated, at the same time as putting this puppet VP into the Presidential Palace. Hadi didn't win an election! He simply took over from Saleh. Get a new constitution out there, and let the people focus on THAT!
That would be a good idea if you ASS-U-ME they could even read or write!
What most of you, on here, don't seem to grasp is the MAJORITY of people in these countries are functional ILLITERATES! The ONLY information they get is from their RELIGIOUS Leaders(?) who want a theocracy, not a Democracy!
@Titas- sounds like you've been there. I spent 2 months there in 1984, my dad ran a hospital in Sada'a. What a learning experience. A misfit shiek kind of adopted me, he sold oxygen to the hospital. We had lunch almost every day, chewed gatt, and shot ak47s in the desert. Their values are much different than ours. WHO ARE WE(?) to dictate a culture thousands of yeard old! I met many descent people there, and also many hypocrites(especially from neighboring countries). I have said for years George W. should have spent AT LEAST a couple of weeks there to really understand the people. The country is run by tribes and baksheesh(bribary), been that way for a long time. My friend showed me the caves they held up in during their civil war, I am sure he probably dead by now(they don't live very long over there). When I was there, they kind of liked us- not anymore!
Bring back Saleh,, He knows how to keep those towelees in check!!!
I wonder how many Koran's were destroyed in the bombing? Oh thats right it is OK to destroy Koran's if you are Muslim!!
Where are all the Republicans posting about how this is all Obama's fault? Are you guys asleep or something? I thought the wicked never slept...
And, I'm waiting for all of you Liberals raising your voices to condemn Obama for not pulling all of our troops home the day after he took office!
The entire "Bin Laden" thing could have happened without a single AMERICAN "boot on the ground" in Iraq or Afghanistan so that isn't a valid talking point.
Obama promised to end the war(s) and he did, right on Bush's time table! With the exceptions of Health Scare and imposing the equivalent of Cap and Trade through the EPA, Obama has done just about everything on Bush's time table...
Its a deal! We also have no democrats claiming its bushes fault. I would however like to see our troops outa afghanistan. pointless waste of blood.
NBC's headline sanitizes this atrocity by declaring it a, "Deadly car bomb.." without assigning responsibility. You present the terrorist attack as though it was some natural catastrophe like an earthquake. And this is even after the radical Islamic terrorists of al Qaeda claimed credit for the mass murders. Shame on you for misinforming your readers.
Critcal times hard to deal, will be here.