Guns banned and video cameras installed as security forces crack down on violence in Taiz

AL-MUKALLA: Authorities in the Yemeni city of Taiz and surrounding areas have stepped up security measures, including a ban on carrying weapons and the installation of security cameras, in an attempt to resolve long-standing security issues and protect international humanitarian workers.
Lt. Col. Usama Al-Sharabi, a spokesperson for Taiz police, told Arab News that vehicles carrying dozens of armed security officers were deployed in Taiz and nearby rural areas to enforce the ban on carrying firearms and to secure the city, days after masked men killed a World Food Program worker in Al-Turbah, about 70 kilometers south of the city.
“These measures are part of a comprehensive security strategy designed to restore peace and stability to every district of the city,” Al-Sharabi said.
Several people were arrested and their weapons confiscated by security forces in rural areas, which have been gripped by violence and anarchy for some time.
The killing of Jordanian national Moayad Hameidi, the head of the WFP office in Al-Turbah, on Friday by two armed, masked men was widely condemned and put pressure on local security services in and around the densely populated city to take action to tackle insecurity and the proliferation of weapons.
Officials in Taiz said the two suspected attackers and about 20 people believed to have aided them were being questioned to determine their motives.
“What I can say at this time is that the investigation is proceeding well and has yielded some significant information and that the security services will release all relevant details,” Al-Sharabi said.
Hameidi’s body was flown home to Jordan from the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Tuesday on a UN aircraft. Yemeni officials said the security campaign in Taiz had been planned two weeks before his death but as a result of the killing they had launched it more quickly to help ensure the safety of foreign workers.
“I’d like to thank the people who helped us deploy forces in their communities, as well as identify and find the suspects. Society is the motivating reason behind this accomplishment,” Al-Sharabi said.
Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been under siege by the Iran-backed Houthis since mid-2015 after they failed to take control of it as a result of heavy resistance from army troops and allied resistance fighters.
Members of the local armed groups that repelled the Houthi assaults have refused to disarm and resisted any efforts by security and military forces to tackle insecurity and have them integrate with state authorities.
Elsewhere, eight people, including four women, were killed on Tuesday in an explosion at Wadi Abeda, in central Marib province.
The Aden Al-Ghad news site reported that a local weapons dealer and an explosives expert were attempting to defuse a missile inside a house when it exploded, killing both of them, the dealer’s wife and five of his children, including three daughters.
In another deadly incident, also on Tuesday, an improvised explosive device killed three Yemeni soldiers and wounded one in the Moudia district of southern Abyan province. It was the latest in a series of attacks against Yemeni forces battling Al-Qaeda, local officials and media said.
Dozens of Yemeni soldiers have been killed by land mines and roadside bombs planted by Al-Qaeda operatives in Abyan’s Omaran valley since September last year, when local security and military forces launched a joint operation targeting the terrorist group’s long-standing hiding places in Abyan and Shabwa.

Guns banned and video cameras installed as security forces crack down on violence in Taiz