Reminiscent of the Taliban
The streets of Zinjibar are eerily quiet. Houses are abandoned, shops and gas stations closed. There’s no electricity. The landscape is silent, a wasteland littered with bullets and graves. Not a single resident was seen in more than four hours spent inside government-controlled areas of the city.
Most of the city’s inhabitants are 35 miles away, in Aden. They traveled with only the possessions they could carry. They have sought refuge there in dozens of schools, turning classrooms into makeshift homes.
But even Aden may not be safe.
“If we don’t manage to stop them, their next target will be Aden,” warned Brig. Awad al-Qatabi, the head of Yemeni National Security in the city.
Those who fled Abyan brought with them disturbing stories about life under the Islamists that are reminiscent of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Drinking alcohol is punishable by death. Praying is mandatory and monitored closely by the militants. Television is banned, as is any contact with Westerners.
“Anyone who supports Saleh is considered an agent of America and the West,” said Salah Nasser Nashir, 34, a farmer, who fled in July.
He was more afraid of the indiscriminate bombings by security forces than he was of al-Qaeda, echoing comments by others who fled Zinjibar. “We fled not because of al-Qaeda, but because the government was shelling us,” he said.
Still others, though, fled the wrath of the Islamist militants. Maher Ali, 17, said he was caught two months ago stealing electric cables from a store. He explained to his jihadist captors that he was unemployed and hungry and that he needed money for food. They took him to a clearing. A man carried a bag of knives. They blindfolded Ali. A voice asked him which hand would he like to have cut off. Ali pleaded for mercy.
“This is Allah’s law,” he heard the voice say, before the knife came down on his left wrist.
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