Explanation
Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, Yemen-based Islamist militant group that has been implicated in several acts of terrorism since the late 1990s.
It is most recognized for its involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
Aden-Abyan was formed sometime in the mid-1990s as a loose guerrilla network of a few dozen men, with a mix of veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war and Islamists from various countries.
In May 1998 the group issued the first of a series of political and religious statements on Yemeni and world affairs.
In December 1998 Aden-Abyan kidnapped a party of 16 Western tourists 16 Western tourists in southern Yemen, four of whom later died during a botched rescue by Yemeni security forces.
In 1999 group leader Zayn al-Abidin al-Mihdhar (Abu al-Hassan) was executed for his role in the kidnapping
