Wadi Dawan

Coordinates: 15°15′51″N 48°20′27″E / 15.26417°N 48.34083°E / 15.26417; 48.34083
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Wadi Dawan
وَادِي دَوْعَن
Raybun
Town
Buildings in Wadi Dawan
Buildings in Wadi Dawan
Wadi Dawan is located in Yemen
Wadi Dawan
Wadi Dawan
Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 15°15′51″N 48°20′27″E / 15.26417°N 48.34083°E / 15.26417; 48.34083
Country Yemen
GovernorateHadhramaut
DistrictDaw'an District
Time zoneUTC+03:00 (Yemen Standard Time)

Wadi Dawan (Arabic: وَادِي دَوْعَن, romanizedWādī Daw‘an) is a town and desert valley in central Yemen. Located in Hadhramaut Governorate, it is noted for its mud brick buildings.

Modern history[edit]

On January 18, 2008, an ambush attack on Belgian tourists traveling in a convoy through the valley took place. A convoy of four jeeps carrying 15 tourists to Shibam were ambushed by gunmen in a hidden pickup truck.[1] Two Belgian women, Claudine Van Caillie, of Bruges, 63, and Katrine Glorie, from East Flanders, 54, as well as two Yemenis, a driver and a guide, were killed; another man was also heavily wounded, several others suffered minor wounds.[2] The tourists were repatriated to Belgium on January 19, except the injured man, who remained in Sana'a.[3]

In the wake of the attack, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel De Gucht originally rejected that Al-Qaeda might be responsible, explaining that although the possibility could be avoided, internecine disputes and latent Islamism also to be taken into account.[2] A number of arrests were made on January 21.[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "BBC NEWS - Al-Qaeda attack Belgian Tourists". Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  2. ^ a b (in French) Deux Belges tuées au Yémen, Le Soir, January 18, 2008.
  3. ^ (in French) Yémen: les touristes belges rapatriés, Le Soir, January 19, 2008.
  4. ^ (in French) Plusieurs suspects arrêtés au Yémen, Le Soir, January 21, 2008.

External links[edit]