Al-Qaeda prisoners captured [Archives:2006/919/Front Page]
By:Adel Al-Haddad
SANA'A, Feb. 8 ) According to unverifiable sources, Yemeni security forces captured some of the escaped Al-Qaeda prisoners in a house Sana'a.
The 23 suspects escaped Friday from Political Security Central Prison in Sana'a. Thirteen are accused of attacking the U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Cole, killing 17 American soldiers, and the French ship Limburg docked in Aden Port.
On Sunday, the International Criminal Police Organization – known as Interpol – released an international alert for escaped fugitive Jamal Al-Badawi, mastermind of the Oct. 12, 2000 USS Cole bombing in Aden. Al-Badawi was sentenced to 150 years in jail but his sentence later was converted to a death sentence. He and 10 other suspected Al-Qaeda prisoners previously escaped from Aden's Political Security Prison in 2003. Al-Badawi was rearrested and returned to the prison.
Yemeni security forces set up checkpoints throughout Sana'a trying to catch the fugitives before they attempted hiding in mountainous tribal territories far from Yemeni government control. Security arrested approximately 200 of the fugitives' relatives and associates for investigation. A security official said combined operations are taking place in areas considered to be extremist group strongholds. The official confirmed that fugitives' relatives and friends have been arrested.
Additionally, police distributed fugitives' photographs to all checkpoints, police stations and intelligence agents throughout Yemen. The official reported that search efforts concentrated in Abyan province in the south, in addition to remote areas and the capital. The 23 escaped from the prison via a long underground tunnel. In its alert, Interpol said the tunnel was “dug by the prisoners and co-conspirators outside.”
The U.S. administration expressed its assistance and concern about the escaped Yemeni terrorists. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whiteman said Monday that the U.S. State Department is among agencies involved in the matter, adding, “Clearly, the United States government collaborates with nations across the globe and Interpol is a law enforcement type of organization.”
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