In Yemen:195 al-Qaeda suspects arrested [Archives:2003/652/Front Page]

SANA'A- Minister of Interior Rashad Al-Alimi revealed that 195 al-Qaeda suspects are currently kept in prisons throughout the country. Those suspects have been arrested during the last few years for suspicion of links to al-Qaeda network.
Some of those detainees have been recently arrested in Huttat area, Abyan governorate following the clashes that took place a few weeks ago in that region.
The prisoners are believed to be kept in prisons in different governorate of the republic.
Eight of those are thought to be directly connected to the attacks on the USS Cole attack in 2001 and the French Oil tanker 2002. Five of those might have died.
Brig Al-Alimi added in a report presented to parliament last Wednesday that all 195 people are accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda and will remain in custody for their insistence to hold on to ideas promoting violence, extremism and hostility to Westerners.
The report was presented to the parliament during a debate on terror-related detainees.
“Around 95 others have been released after they were persuaded by leading clerics to turn their back on extremism and correct their beliefs,” he said.
Of the 195, five are thought to have direct links to the suicide bombing of the USS Cole Navy Destroyer that took place at the southern port of Aden in October 2000.
The minister revealed that eight other accomplices are still on the run.
Earlier this week, Al-Alimi told journalists that Saudi Arabia would extradite to Yemen eight fugitives, some of them thought to have been involved in the Cole bombing that killed 17 US sailors.
Al-Alimi stressed that the concerned bodies are still hunting down USS Cole suspects in Arab countries as well as in Yemen.
Five of the prisoners are thought to have direct links to the explosions that were carried out by the so called “Qaeda Sympathizers” in Sana'a. Other suspects who are thought to have been involved in the explosions are believed to have died in the explosions.
Among the detainees were also 19 suspected in the assassination of former YSP assistant secretary-general and the killing of the three US doctors in Jibla.
Concerning the attack on helicopter that belongs to Yemen Hunt Oil Company, at least five suspects are currently held.
In addition, 2 people have been detained when they attempted to carry out an explosion in an installation in Taiz , while a third was able to escape and is currently being racked by security bodies throughout the country.
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