Incident may help track down terror network Explosion kills two in Sanaa [Archives:2002/33/Front Page]

Sana’a, Aug 9, (YT)Two men were killed in an explosion that rocked al-Qadisiya building south- east Sana’a on Friday morning. The two men are thought to be bomb makers who were preparing explosive device when it blasted. The explosive material was triggered causing a strong blast that resulted in the instant death of one of the two men, Abdulkhaliq Naji whose face was unrecognizable as his body became totally charred. The other man in the same room Mohammed Abdulkhaleq Saeed al-Jaberi al-Berihi, who is said to be one of the Islamists returned from Chechnya, seemed to be somewhat further away from the blast but could not escape death as he died of his injury on way to the hospital. There were no reports of any injuries.
An identification card of a third person was found in the apartment and its holder was tracked down and detained. Security forces hope that this person could provide important information that could help in tracking down the rest of the group and bring them to justice.
According to an Interior Ministry source, preliminary investigation revealed that the two persons were preparing an explosive device when it blew up.
Security officials said that they found several weapons and explosives including an RPG launcher in the apartment, drawing speculations that the two men may be part of a larger terrorist network.
This comes at a time when members of a group identifying themselves as al-Qaeda sympathizers are being chased throughout the country for being behind a number of explosions incidents that caused damage to a number of government buildings during the past few months. The group threatened to continue its attacks against the Political Security Office unless hundreds of Islamist members are released from prison. The Yemeni government had committed itself to working hard to find those terrorists and bring them to justice. This comes as part of a campaign waged against Osama bin Ladens al Qaeda network and other Islamic groups to enhance Yemens reputation as an anti-terrorist country.

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