Wadi Dawan Explained

Wadi Dawan
Other Name:Raybun
Native Name:وَادِي دَوْعَن
Nickname:Wadi of Honey
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Yemen
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Yemen
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Yemen
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Hadhramaut
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Daw'an District
Unit Pref:Metric
Area Total Km2:3,546
Population As Of:2004
Population Total:50,992
Timezone:Yemen Standard Time
Utc Offset:+03:00
Coordinates:15.2642°N 48.3408°W
Elevation M:1358
Website:https://www.had-wadidoan.info/

Wadi Dawan (Arabic: وَادِي دَوْعَن|Wādī 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

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 for 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 were also to be taken into account.[2] A number of arrests were made on January 21.[4]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BBC NEWS - Al-Qaeda attack Belgian Tourists . 2009-11-14 . 2016-09-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160919221517/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7196186.stm . live .
  2. Deux Belges tuées au Yémen, Le Soir, January 18, 2008.
  3. Yémen: les touristes belges rapatriés, Le Soir, January 19, 2008.
  4. Plusieurs suspects arrêtés au Yémen, Le Soir, January 21, 2008.