U.S Navy ships off Yemen [Archives:2006/920/Local News]
SANA'A, Feb. 12 ) The Navy ships are part of Combined Task Force 150, which routinely patrols the area's waters. According to a Pentagon statement, “Ships from CTF 150 are monitoring international waters along the coast of Yemen in an attempt to either block possible maritime escape routes or capture the suspected terrorists if they make this attempt.” No official Yemeni source could confirm or deny the statement.
A White House security official said Thursday that the Al-Qaeda prison escape was of “enormous concern” to the United States. “I find the developments in Yemen not only deeply disappointing but of enormous concern to us, especially given the capabilities and expertise of the people who were there,” Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser Frances Townsend said.
Cooperation and coordination
Townsend told reporters that the U.S. ambassador spoke with Yemeni officials, asking for “the strongest and most transparent cooperation so we can help them.”
The Yemeni pro-government September 26 daily reported, “Close coordination has been established between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United States to bar the escapees from leaving Yemen and crossing into neighboring countries.”
In this regard, media reported that 200 of the escapees' relatives, in addition to 80 security personnel at the Central Intelligence Prison in Sana'a, from which the 23 Al-Qaeda suspects escaped last week, have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating the mass escape.
U.S. official reactions
The incident drew anger and astonishment from Washington, with top White House aide Townsend criticizing Yemen for housing prisoners too close together and without enough restrictions. “We are disappointed that they were all housed together. We are disappointed that their prison restrictions weren't more stringent,” she stated.
Townsend mentioned that the U.S. also is working with Saudi Arabia, which had turned over to Yemen several of those who now have escaped. “So our allies in Saudi Arabia face as great, if not a greater threat by virtue of this escape than we do,” she warned.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed disappointment that the Al-Qaeda suspects escaped, but remained hopeful they would be caught. “They're dangerous individuals. It's a shame they've escaped. I'm hopeful that they'll be recaptured,” he said on the sidelines of an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in Taormina, southern Italy.
“Certainly, some of them were among the masterminds of the USS Cole attack that killed American sailors,” Rumsfeld said, referring to Jamal Ahmed Badawi, accused of planning the Oct. 12, 2000 bombing of the Norfolk-based destroyer, and Fawaz Al-Rabeei, one of those responsible for attacking the French tanker Limburg in 2002. Badawi was sentenced to death in September 2004 for planning the USS Cole attack that killed 17 sailors and injured 39 others.
The FBI confirmed that 39-year-old American Jaber Elbaneh, wanted for allegedly training with the “Lackawanna Six” at an Al-Qaeda camp, was among the escapees. Elbaneh is charged with five other men – dubbed the “Lackawanna Six” for the city where they lived near Buffalo – with providing material support to Al-Qaeda by attending Osama Bin Laden's Al-Farooq training camp in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Following those attacks, Yemen joined the U.S.-led “War on Terrorism,” launching a campaign against Islamic militants.
Reward
Yemen's government will announce a reward in return for information leading to the capture of the 23 escaped Al-Qaeda prisoners. The September 26 web site (www.26sep.net) quoted unnamed sources as saying an announcement would be made within hours. An official source said Saturday, “The reward will be tempting,” to encourage those with information on the escapees to speak out.
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