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SANAA, Yemen When a young suicide bomber, disguised in combatgear, blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal here onMonday, he killed at least 90 Yemeni soldiers. He also blew a hole in US counter-terrorism strategy. The United States has for years partnered with the Yemenigovernment in order to contain the local incarnation of Al Qaeda.But in the chaos sowed by a year of popular protests, whicheventually led to the resignation of Yemen s longtime strongmanAli Abdullah Saleh, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has onlygained ground. Al Qaeda has wrested control of several southern Yemeni cities inthe last year, governing a population increasingly sympathetic withthe militants. A stepped up US drone campaign has, despite killingseveral high-profile Al Qaeda leaders, done little to stem thetide. Regardless, in the day following the massive bombing, both theUnited States and Yemen reaffirmed their commitment to thestrategy. Newly-minted President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi pledged at a recentmeeting with US Counterterrorism Chief John Brennan that the movetowards the pursuit of terrorists is irreversible. And hours after the suicide bomb in Sanaa, Brennan phoned Hadi.They reaffirmed the unshakable partnership between Yemen and theUnited States, and President Hadi pledged not to let terrorist actsinterfere with Yemen s peaceful political transition, accordingto a White House press release. However, the failure of Yemen s military to protect its own ranksat the parade rehearsal may be a harbinger of challenges Hadi andBrennan will face in preparing a young, divided military for battleagainst a far more disciplined enemy that has proved itself capableof blending unnoticed into virtually any environment. Amidst this uncertainty, Hadi is sending mixed signals. In a boldresponse to the suicide attack, the president fired four seniorcommanders and close allies Saleh, his predecessor. Later in theday, however, the president opted out of a highly anticipatednational address at which he was expected to reassure a terrorizedpopulace. In an attempt to reassure the country's online audience, Yemen sspokesperson in Washington tweeted, No retreat, no backing down;the military parade will be held tomorrow in Sanaa, Yemen. More from GlobalPost: The logic behind The Drones Wars On Monday, eyewitnesses watched the young bomber sneak through anamusement park on the western side of Saba een Square, where thedrills were taking place. He then scaled a wall and disappearedinto a crowd of saluting cadets, who had just finished practicingmarches they would perform Tuesday to commemorate Yemen s 22ndanniversary of unification. The blast sent thousands of soldiers fleeing for safety. Severedlimbs, chunks of flesh and deserted rifles littered the asphalttarmac in concentric circles around the charred bodies. One witnesssaid he saw blood spattered on the grand stands, separated by a10-lane highway from the amusement park. Thousands of Yemenis were expected to fill those bleachers onTuesday to celebrate their first National Unity Day since Salehresigned. Saleh engineered the unification in 1990 and violentlyenforced it four years later in a short but bloody civil war. While Yemen is accustomed to violent clashes between tribes, thegovernment, separatists and militants, the bombing on Monday tookeveryone by surprise. The streets around Saba een were filled withchaos after the bombing. Uniformed soldiers waved and shoutedhysterically at pedestrians to turn back. Whining ambulances andhonking taxis shuttled the dead and dying to hospitals, where staffsaid they were overwhelmed and underprepared for the atrocity. Doctor Mohsin al-Dhahari at Sanaa s police hospital said most ofthe patients were teenage boys. We have dozens paralyzed fromhead to toe. We expect the death toll to rise, he said. Doctors without Borders reported it had been facing similarchallenges in the south, where Yemeni ground and air forces havebeen storming Al Qaeda strongholds for the past two weeks. Teams have received increasing numbers of patients [who] allsuffer bomb blast injuries, according to a statement the groupreleased on Monday. Yemen s defense minister, who arrived to Saba een minutes afterthe explosion, was the target of the bomb, Al Qaeda said instatement. The group warned of further retaliation if themilitary continued attacking its so-called Islamic Emirates inthe south. The suicide bomb was the first pedestrian attack in Sanaa sinceApril 2010, when a student in school uniform detonated hisexplosives belt near the armored car of Britain s formerambassador to Yemen. The year before, bombers targeted a convoy ofSouth Korean officials. Yemeni Political Analyst Nasser Arabyee has been warning of such anattack in one of Yemen s main urban centers. A car bomb was found in Sanaa last week, he said, right after[Al Qaeda leader Ayman] Zawahiri urged his Yemeni affiliate toincrease the fight against Hadi and the US. This is definitely connected to the American assassinationattempt yesterday, he added, referring to the two US militarytrainers who were shot in the resort town of Hodayda along the RedSea. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for both attacks on its officialFacebook page, citing retaliation against crimes committed by aresurgent Yemeni military since late April in south Yemen. An emboldened CIA drone program launched last June has providedmost of the firepower used against the Islamist militants. Indeed,in the 11 months since US President Barack Obama authorized thecovert drone program, American forces have conducted some two dozenair strikes on Yemeni soil, which represents a fourfold increaseover those carried out in the nine preceding years combined. 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