While trial of al-Qaeda USS Cole attack suspects is starting:Al-Qaeda-linked group threatens to attack [Archives:2004/753/Front Page]

YT & agencies
According to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, al-Qaeda members threatened to transform Yemen into a “third swamp” for U.S. forces, which are currently positioned in Iraq and Afghanistan. The newspaper mentioned that the statement, which has allegedly come from Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade, circulated on internet and was located on the website of an extremist organization thought to have links to al-Qaeda.
According to the AP, the shadowy group takes its name from a top al-Qaida lieutenant who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan in 2001 and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Western targets. Counterterrorism experts question whether it has any agents capable of launching attacks and say some of its claims are obviously exaggerated.
This comes a few days after al-Qaeda had threatened to strike European countries through suicide attacks deep into their territories. The group added Yemen later in the statement which says, “Our goals in the next phase: expanding the circle of conflict by spreading operations all around the world. (We will) drag America into a third swamp ) after Iraq and Afghanistan ) and let it be Yemen, God willing,”
The group alleged that a fundamentalist group had taken its name from Abu Ali al-Harthi, bin Laden's top lieutenant in Yemen when he and five other al-Qaida suspects were killed by U.S. forces in November 2003. Al-Harthi was a suspect in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in a Yemeni port in which 17 sailors were killed.
This comes in a time Yemen is trying several suspects in the USS Cole attack. The trial has started after so many delays and disruptions.
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