Armies of Liberation

Spin and lie fast enough and everyone will be too confused to walk, like that the story of the rats twirled in a bag. Or maybe they are turning them.

Al Watan reports the Saudi Arabia doesn’t have any information on the arrest of seven Saudi al Qaeda highly publicized by the Yemeni regime last week.

And the other pressure point to be considered in the overall picture is Saleh’s ability to manipulate Saudi Arabia (like the US) through playing the terror card, and its been suggested, to dampen any enthusiasm SA may have for the Southern seperatist movement. The southern mobility is among the foremost threats to Saleh’s throne.

Update: below forum reactions to al Wahishi surrender.

Update: English article at Yemen’s Official News Agency, sounds like somebody got a spanking:

KSA denies nationals arrested in Yemen

RIYADH, 20 (Saba) – A spokesman for the Saudi Interior ministry has denied reports that seven Saudi terrorism suspects were arrested in Yemen who received trainings in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Major General Mansour al-Turkey said Yemeni officials had told him the reports were untrue.

Al-Turkey affirmed Saudi Arabia will not allow astray people to use its lands for terrorist training camps .

He urged other wanted suspects on the list the Saudi Interior ministry made public last month to surrender as their colleague Muhammad Ateeq al-Aufi did when he handed himself in to Yemeni security forces in Shabwa province a week ago.

Two days ago, Yemen extradited al-Aufi to Saudi Arabia. His name was among the list of 83 wanted suspects announced in January.

Al-Aufi was an ex-Guantanmo Saudi detainee and released along with other eleven Saudi nationals.

Recently, two of the eleven were already identified as members of a Yemeni terrorist group. Al-Aufi was one of the two.

For his part, Yemen’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Muhammad al-Ahwal affirmed his country will not allow terrorists to use Yemeni lands to attack Saudi targets and to destabilize the neighboring kingdom.

السعودية تنفي اعتقال 7 من مواطنيها في اليمن خططوا لتنفيذ هجمات Saudi Arabia denied the arrest of 7 of its citizens in Yemen for planning attacks
الخميس, 19-فبراير-2009 Thursday, 19 – Feb -2009
صنعاء/ الرياض ( الوطن ) – Yemen / Saudi Arabia (home) –
نفى المتحدث الرسمي في وزارة الداخلية السعودية اللواء منصور التركي صحة ما تناقلته بعض وسائل الإعلام والمواقع الإلكترونية عن ضبط سبعة سعوديين في اليمن، كانوا قد خضعوا لتدريبات قتالية وهجومية داخل المملكة. Denied Spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, Major General Mansour al-Turki, Saudi Arabia, the accuracy of the reports by some media websites and the seizure of seven Saudis in Yemen, who had been subjected to assault and combat exercises in the Kingdom.

وأوضح في رده على استفسار من وكالة الأنباء السعودية أن المسؤولين في الجهات الأمنية المختصة في اليمن أكدوا لنظرائهم في المملكة عدم صحة ذلك. He pointed out in response to an inquiry by the Saudi Press Agency that the officials of the competent security authorities in Yemen, confirmed to their counterparts in the Kingdom was not the case. وأكد اللواء التركي أن المملكة لم ولن تسمح باستخدام أراضيها لنشاطات الفئة الضالة وتدريباتها، مبينا أن الأجهزة الأمنية في المملكة أثبتت قدرتها ومهنيتها وجاهزيتها في تحقيق ذلك والمحافظة عليه. He stressed that the Kingdom of the Turkish Brigade have not and will not allow its territory to be used for the activities of the deviant group and the training, indicating that the security services in the UK has shown the ability and professionalism and readiness to achieve it and maintain it.

ولم يؤكد المتحدث الأمني لوزارة الداخليه السعودية أنباء ترددت عن اعتقال السلطات الأمنية اليمنية لستة سعوديين من عناصر تنظيم القاعدة في اليمن خلال عمليات دهم لقرى يمنية حدودية، أسفرت عن القبض على 29 من عناصر القاعدة بينهم السعوديون الستة بتهمة التخطيط لشن هجمات إرهابية في المملكة واليمن. The spokesman did not confirm the security of Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry had been reported about the arrest of the Yemeni security authorities of the six elements of the Saudi al-Qaeda in Yemen during a raid on villages Yemeni border, which resulted in the arrest of 29 al-Qaeda members, including six Saudis accused of plotting terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

وقال لا معلومات لدينا عن عملية الاعتقال تلك ويمكنكم سؤال الجهات الأمنية اليمنية. He said we have no information about the arrest of those and you can question the security of Yemen.

وكانت مصادر رسمية يمنية تحدثت مطلع الاسبوع الجاري عن بدء التحقيق مع خلية إرهابية مكونة من سبعة أشخاص يحملون الجنسية السعودية ضمن (30) القي القبض عليهم أثناء عملية دهم شنتها اجهزة الامن اليمنية في عدد من المناطق الواقعة على الشريط الحدودي بين اليمن والسعودية. The Yemeni official sources said earlier this week with the start of the investigation of the terrorist cell made up of seven citizens in the Saudi Arabia (30) were arrested during a raid launched by the Yemeni security services in a number of areas on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

واوضحت المصادر أن التحقيقات الأولية كشفت عن تلقي أفراد تلك الخلية لأوامر من قيادة تنظيم القاعدة بالتسلل إلى الأراضي اليمنية والإعداد للقيام بسلسلة من الهجمات الإرهابية التي تستهدف المصالح الأجنبية والمرافق السياحية في اليمن ،فضلاً عن القيام بمهمة تدريب عدد من أعضاء القاعدة في اليمن. The sources pointed out that preliminary investigations revealed that the cell members to receive the orders of the leadership of al-Qaida infiltration into the territory of Yemen and the preparation of a series of terrorist attacks targeting foreign interests and tourist facilities in Yemen, as well as to perform the task of training a number of al Qaeda members in Yemen.

Update: heh

CBS
Realizing how al Awfi’s surrender undermines the credibility and the status of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, many forum members chose to refute the news of his surrender and claim that al Awfi had been arrested.

One member even claimed that “the Americans must’ve planted metal chips in al Awfi’s body or else how did they manage to nab him so quickly?!”

Abu Dujana al Azdi, a pro-al Qaeda author and a regular contributor to the militant Islamist websites, published a “warning message” that was posted on all forums today. He told fellow members not to believe reports on the surrender of al Awfi until it’s been confirmed by a trusted jihadi source. He suggested that this might be an ambush set by the Saudi intelligence to arrest many of the militants who would try to contact al Awfi upon hearing the “fabricated news.”

Yesterday, al Arabiya News channel aired video of al Awfi looking weak and tired boarding a plane that was taking him back to Saudi Arabia from Yemen.
Following major arrests, Saudi authorities often run television broadcasts of what it calls “the confessions of the misled ones.” If al Awfi appears on national television and retracts his militant ideas, it would be considered a serious blow to al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula and its credibility.