Two latest terrorist attacks on foreign tourists in Yemen not only reminded people of the series of attacks on foreign targets in the country since 2000 when the USS Cole was bombed in the port of Aden, but also prompted people to ask why terrorism lingers in the non-focal Middle East state.
Four South Korean tourists were killed in a suicide blast on Sunday when they were visiting an ancient town in southern Yemen's Hadramawt province.
Three days later, vehicles carrying a South Korean delegation investigating the case were attacked on their way to the airport in the capital, but no one was hurt.
Still clear are the scenes in July 2007 when a suicide car bomb killed seven Spanish tourists in the eastern Marib province; in January 2008 when attackers killed four in a shooting on a Belgian tourist group in Hadramawt province, and in September when a radical group calling itself the Islamic Jihad in Yemen attacked the heavily fortified US embassy in Yemen, killing 17 people, including civilians.
Plagued by overspreading terrorism since the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, Yemen has its own political, historical and geographical reasons to account for the high frequency of terrorist attacks it suffered in recent years.
Under the US pressure and in view of its national security, Yemen has put aside disputes with the United States over issues such as the definition of terrorism, the permission of direct interference and antiterrorist cooperation.
Especially in recent years, the Yemeni government further strengthened its fight against terrorism, having killed or arrested quite a number of al-Qaida members as well as other religious extremists.
The move was commended by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and helped win back to Yemen the recipient status of the US-run development fund the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
The boosted Yemen-US antiterrorist cooperation incurred resentment from local al-Qaida affiliates and religious extremists, who interpreted the cooperation as a compromise with the "Satan state" the United States and vowed retaliation on the Yemeni government and western countries.
In early 2008, there were sources saying that the al-Qaida force was accumulating in Yemen as the Saudi Arabian government's stepped-up antiterrorist operation compelled huge groups of them to move across the border and save strength in Yemen.
The credibility of the information was improved by the recent arrest in Yemen of a Saudi Arabian national who was one of the major fugitives on the Saudi Arabian government's wanted list.
Geographically speaking, Yemen could be easily regarded as a nice refuge for terrorists as mountains in west and north of the country and untraversed deserts in the central and eastern territories baffle the efforts to pursue them.
Besides, the Yemeni people's tradition of bearing arms undoubtedly facilitates terrorists' search for weapons. Almost all Yemeni families have amunitions and reports say the country's 21 million population own a total of more than 60 million pieces of firearms with no lack of heavy machine-guns and rocket launchers.
The Yemeni government has been sparing no efforts to fight terrorism, with leaders repeating their appeals for the people to keep away from religious extremism and alert to terrorist plots.
Shortly after the latest attacks on South Koreans, the Yemeni internal affairs ministry ordered regional security institution chiefs to inspect in person crucial infrastructures, government facilities and sites frequented by foreigners to check ground alert and readiness for fast reactions in emergencies.
For Yemen, the government's resolution to fight terrorism is not enough in the arduous cause, given the fact that poverty is the root cause of terrorism, some analysts said.
Yemen, described as a place of happiness in ancient books, is now one of the world's most underdeveloped countries with persistent high levels of poverty, unemployment rate and illiteracy, the kind of soil for terrorism which is annoying the country.
Analysts stress that only by combining antiterrorism efforts with economic development, poverty relief and improved educational levels can Yemen eliminate terrorism in its territory and bring back the title of the place of happiness.
(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2009)