Two Al-Qaeda loyalists dead, one from Saudi Arabia [Archives:2009/1227/Local News]

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January 22 2009

By: Aqeel Al-Halali
For the Yemen Times

SANA'A, Jan. 21- The leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Nasser Abdul Karim Al-Wihaishi, also known as Abu Baseer, announced the merging of Al-Qaeda organizations in Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the name of “Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula.” Meanwhile, the Yemeni security authorities announced that two members of Al-Qaeda – including one from Saudi Arabia – were killed in a security operation last Monday in Sana'a.

Al-Wihaishi said in an interview with Abdul Elah Haidar Shay'e, a journalist who specializes in terrorism, that the decision to integrate came after “the mujahedeen of the keepers of the two holy sites (Saudi Arabia) expressed their allegiance with leadership in Yemen.” He pointed out that “the organization includes youth from the keepers of the two holy sites (Saudi Arabia) and other countries.”

According to news published in Al-Fajr Media Center which belongs to Al-Qaeda, during the interview Al-Wihaishi talked about the importance of the attack that targeted the US Embassy last September “as it is considered an important stronghold of Crusader-Zionist campaigns against Muslims in Somalia, the Arab Peninsula, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.”

Haidar told the Yemen Times that the interview he conducted with Al-Wihaishi will be published soon in both local and international media outlets. He pointed out that he interviewed Al-Wihaishi in the presence of leaders of the organization and the legislative body, including vice-leader of Al-Qaeda Saeed Al-I Al-Shahri, also known as Abu Sufian Al-Shahri, who was detained in Guantanamo and then released early last year.

The Al-Qaeda organization in Saudi had announced last May that it lost the battle with Saudi security authorities, who demanded that Al-Qaeda loyalists to head to Yemen “to avoid being arrested by Saudi Security authorities” since they might impede oil supply in the region.

The state-run agencies reported that a security source from the Ministry of the Interior said that security apparatuses stormed “a house in one of Sana'a's neighborhoods where members of an Al-Qaeda cell were hiding.” He pointed out that armed confrontations broke out between the two sides and resulted in the death of two members of the Al-Qaeda cell, including Salem Mohammed Muqsef Al-Nahdi from Saudi Arabia. The other one is Badr Dawod Saleh Musharr'I from Al-Hodeida.

According to the security source, Al-Nahdi was among the elements wanted by both Yemeni and Saudi security authorities. He is a member of Hamza Al-Quaiti's cell who was killed along with others in armed confrontations with the security forces in Tarim city, Hadramout, last August.

The source said that the last operation also resulted in the arrest of Abdul Rahman Al-Ghurabi of Dhamar, whereas Musa'ed Ahmed Naji Al-Barbari of Al-Jawf managed to escape.

The Ministry of Defense reported in the online news website “September.net” that primary investigations with Al-Ghurabi revealed that the Saudi man, Al-Nahdi, was among those who carried out the attack that targeted the US embassy in Sana'a and hit a school for girls in the nearby area last March.

The defense ministry said that “two explosive belts, a number of grenades, a machine gun and a motorbike” were inside the house that security stormed where the Al-Qaeda cell were hiding. It said that the group is “considered one of the dangerous terrorist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda.”

Throughout last year, Yemen witnessed 23 terrorist attacks in which 40 people were killed, including ten foreign tourists, two of which were women. Another 90 people were injured, most of whom are citizens, according to Yemen Times Statistics.
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