On 20 March 2012 CCI received additional information from reliable sources concerning the recent attacks on expatriate teachers in Yemen . This information concerns the 13 March kidnapping of a female Swiss international school teacher in Hodeida. Based on early information obtained from local sources, the Yemeni government and media accounts, it appeared that this kidnapping had been perpetrated by Islamist terrorists associated with al Qaeda, and therefore was likely linked to the 18 March assassination of an American international school teacher in Taiz.
Based on this new information, the best assessment of the 13 March kidnapping of the Swiss teacher was a localized event perpetrated by tribesmen, similar to many other kidnappings of expatriates by tribesmen in Yemen. Based on the information provided to us by reliable sources today, CCI believes that the kidnapping was planned and executed independent of any Islamist terrorist/al Qaeda participation. However, we continue to consider the possibility that the kidnap event, with the resulting publicity and statements linking it to al Qaeda, may have accelerated the timetable of previously-planned terrorist attacks against international school targets. In other words, the 18 March assassination of the American teacher may have occurred when, how and where it did because the perpetrators were inspired or motived by; or even competing with, the publicity surrounding the earlier kidnapping.
The threat information contained in CCI’s post yesterday is repeated here:
“A claim sent via text to media outlets within hours of the Taiz assassination claimed responsibility by the group Ansar al-Sharia, which is reportedly affiliated with al Qaeda elements. The statement said “This operation comes as a response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West (sic) has launched agains Muslims”.
CCI has been told by multiple sources that Islamic terrorist groups in Yemen have threatened Christian faith-based organizations in recent months. At least one threat specified international schools and claimed that these schools are “fronts” for proselytizing by Christians and warned Yemenis to stay away from all such schools because the schools were targets.” We consider this information to be still valid.
In any event, the information concerning threats issued to international schools, their staff and students; by Islamist terrorists in the weeks before these events remains validated from multiple sources. CCI continues to assess the risk to these organizations, their expatriate staff, their national employees and their students as being very high.
Recommended actions include:
- Increased awareness of activities that may indicate surveillance at any facility, home, church or other location frequented by such staff.
- Rapid communication of all suspicious events, sightings and other circumstances both throughout the involved organization, and also between all like-minded organizations in the area.
- Immediate steps to change daily patterns of activity and avoiding all predictable behavior. This may include changing the time of daily movements; changing the routes traveled; and changing vehicles and/or other means of travel; all in random patterns.
- Communicate a shelter-in-place policy in secure locations for all staff – staff should know where and how to rapidly shelter-in-place in the most secure room or setting possible at all times.
- Update all security contingency plans.
- Update (or create if they don’t exist) evacuation plans for all potentially affected staff.