2007 Temple of Awwam bombing — the full case file

A cell recruited and trained the Temple of Awwam bomber for weeks, even though he didn't initially know how to drive. On 2 July 2007, an al-Qaeda suicide bomber rammed a car bomb into a convoy of Spanish tourists exiting the Temple of Awwam in Marib Governorate, Yemen, killing eight tourists and two Yemeni drivers and wounding others; a Spanish investigation was later closed in 2011 amid a lack of Yemeni cooperation, and no perpetrators were ever tried. In February 2006, a prison escape in Yemen freed several al-Qaeda militants, contributing to the group's resurgence. On March 29, 2007, a three-man cell led by Ali bin Ali Douha assassinated chief criminal investigator Ali Mahmud Qasaylah in Marib. On June 30, 2007, Thirteen Spanish tourists arrived in Yemen on a tour organized by the Basque agency Banao. On July 2, 2007, a suicide car bomb struck a convoy of Spanish tourists exiting the Temple of Awwam, killing eight tourists and two Yemeni drivers and wounding others. On July 3, 2007, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh held a press conference on the bombing; wounded tourists were repatriated to Spain. On July 4, 2007, Spanish police and forensic experts arrived in Yemen to assist in the investigation. On July 5, 2007, Yemeni security forces raided the residence of Egyptian militant Ahmed Bassiouni Dewidar in Sanaa, resulting in his death. On July 6, 2007, a government-endorsed rally condemning the attack was held in Sanaa. On July 14, 2007, Tourist María Asunción Vitorica died from injuries sustained in the bombing. On August 2, 2007, Yemeni authorities publicly identified Ruhayqah as the bomber through DNA testing and named an 11-man cell responsible for the attack. On August 5, 2007, President Saleh met with Abidah tribal leaders demanding an end to al-Qaeda presence in Marib. On August 8, 2007, a raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Marib killed cell leader Ali bin Ali Douha and others implicated in the bombing. In February 2010, Ammar Abadah Nasser al-Wa'eli was set to be tried in absentia in Spain. In 2011, the Audiencia Nacional provisionally shelved its investigation into the bombing due to lack of cooperation from Yemeni authorities. In June 2015, Al Jazeera and El País published an investigation featuring claims from an alleged former al-Qaeda informant about the attack. The case remains unsolved. This case file is kept in memory of its eight victims and the people they loved. The full sourced case file, with every fact cited, is at casepin dot org.

Transcript from the video’s narration track. For every source, open the case file.