OK, so I’m sure that all of you have heard about the mortars coming down close to the US embassy the other day. They hit a girl’s school near the embassy, not the embassy itself. That had struck me as odd, after all, the embassy compound probably has the same area as 5 or 6 football fields, it surprised me that they couldn’t hit it. And they dropped 3 shells, it’s not as though they couldn’t have adjusted after the first one came up short/long. Well, the latest rumors floating around the city involve an ongoing dispute between the principle of the school and one of the leaders of the Isla party. I know, it sounds crazy, but this is Yemen. There was a “terrorist” attack a month or two ago involving a grenade being thrown into a restaurant during the lunch rush. Turns out that it was just someone who had a beef with the guy that ran the place. I’m giving even odds that politics and/or personal vendetta was involved in this as opposed to “terrorism.” This place is crazy, people are very friendly, but do not get them angry or insult them, there can be a lot of collateral damage…
UPDATE: From at least one report I’ve read, the school is about 500 meters away from the embassy. That’s half a klick folks. Either this was a personal grudge thing or they are some of the most incompetent “terrorists” I’ve ever heard of. Well, this is Yemen, either could be true…