Terror Arrests in Yemen: From The American to Al-Sakhi to The Australians Who Go Free
All around the mulberry bush
Short story: Previously under investigation in the US, American Iman Anwar al-Alwaki a/k/a Abu Atiq a/k/a Anwar al-Aulaqi was recently arrested in Yemen. His arrest led investigators to another group connected to September’s thwarted terror bombings in which two of the February al-Qaeda escapees were killed.
The al-Awlaki arrest also led to a later arrest of eight foreigners accused of smuggling guns to Somalia for al-Qaeda including a Dane, a Briton, a German, a Somali, three Australians, and a European of undetermined nationality who may be Austrian. One media report indicates the group was under surveillance by Western intelligence and the arrests disrupted an otherwise productive intelligence operation; other sources dispute this. The Dane is known as Abu Zakaria, whose given name is Kenneth Sorensen. The central figure was reportedly a Somali named al-Ansar. This group of eight included the Australian Ayub brothers, sons of JI leader Abdul Rahim Ayub, who fled Australia after the Bali bombings. Seven of the eight confessed according to the official Yemeni media. However six of eight were subsequently released without charges.
Details: American Anwar Al Awlaki a/k/a Abu Atik was was arrested in Yemen 8/31/06. Born in New Mexico of Yemeni parents, al-Awlaki was the Muslim Chaplin in Residence at George Washington University. He was also reported to be an associate of two of the 9/11 highjackers and a protege of Sheik Zindani.
According to FSM: “MAB (The Muslim Association of Britian) had invited American imam Anwar Al Awlaki to talk in Britain in June 2003. Awlaki was the spiritual adviser of two of the 9/11 attackers, Khalid Almihdar and Nawaf Alhazmi,. Twice busted for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego, Awlaki is still regarded by many Muslim websites as a “pure voice” of Islam. He fled to Yemen, and on August 31 this year, he was arrested in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, suspected of involvement in terror networks.”
US News and World Reports, 2004: a charismatic young Islamic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, 33–allegedly a spiritual adviser to at least two hijackers who plunged American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. A congressional joint inquiry report released last year says that al-Awlaki (aka, al-Aulaqi) is one of 14 men who had dealings with some of the hijackers while under FBI investigation; the bureau shut down a counterterrorism probe against him in 2000. The FBI has long downplayed al-Awlaki’s role, but bureau sources now acknowledge that during the 9/11 probe, agents became “very interested” in al-Awlaki and yet failed to prevent him from leaving the country for Yemen. “We don’t know how he got out,” says one FBI source.
The investigation in 2000 was prompted by al-Awlaki’s “firey anti-US rhetoric” and his honey business. Additionally al-Awlaki had ties to several persons associated with the blind Sheik Rahman. After 9/11, German police found al-Awlaki’s mosque’s phone number in 9/11 co-conspirator, Ramzi Binalshibh’s apartment.
Al-Awlaki’s arrest leads to further arrests including Ibrahim al-Sakhi a/k/a abu Doujana.
YO: Anti-terrorism forces arrested four members of an Al-Qaeda cell in Sana’a on September 17. The men reportedly were closely connection with the foiled terrorist acts against oil installations in Marib and Hadhramout on September 15….Abdullah Mohammed Mohsin al-Rajawi, member of the group, hid the car in the Arahab district….(Another group member) was identified as Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sakhi, using Abu Dojana al-Musaiki as a nickname. A reliable source told the Yemen Observer that the discovered car was supposed to be used by the two Al-Qaeda fugitives who were killed last week in Bani Hushaish district, northeast of Sana’a. The discovered car led to the operation in which Fawaz al-Rabi’e and Mohammed al-Dailami were killed,” the source said.
On October 17th, eight foreigners were arrested in Yemen charged with running guns to Somalia for al-Qaeda.
The Australian TWO sons of Jemaah Islamiah’s former leader in Australia, Abdul Rahim Ayub, are believed to be among three Australians being held in Yemen on terrorism charges. The men, believed to be named Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub, and a Polish-born Australian are being questioned by Yemeni secret police in a prison in the capital Sanaa, according to security sources in the region….The Australians are understood to be converts to Islam and known to authorities before they left for the Middle East.
The arrests stemmed from a state security campaign launched last month against alleged members of an al-Qa’ida cell, authorities said. More than 12 other suspected militants were previously arrested.
One of the detainees, Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sinhi, also known as Abu Dujana al-Misiki, allegedly told security officials he was preparing to carry out an attack with an explosive-laden car on Sanaa international airport.
The regime reported that seven of the eight had confessed. Subsequently, six were released on findings of insufficient evidence. The Ayub brothers will be staying in Yemen to continue their studies. Presumably American citizen Anwar al-Alwaki a/k/a Abu Atiq is still in a Yemeni jail.
