The Saudis have to be searching for the Yemen hostages also, yes?
Regarding the nine hostages in Yemen, three nurses have been found dead. The missing are two men, three small children and their mother. The Yemenis are searching.
I have been concerned that al Qaeda had a new hostage taking method in the works since the Saudis found that cave on the Saudi/Yemeni border (somewhat near the kidnap site) that had rooms or holding cells in it, clearly designed to imprison captives. The cave overlooks AQAP deputy al Shihiri’s village.
In that kind of scenario, the kidnapped group needs to be smaller than nine for logistical considerations. The Saudis must be frantically checking their side of the border, yes? If we are assuming the remaining six are still alive, which we must, there is NO reason to assume they are still in Yemen. The merger of the Saudi branch of al Qaeda with the Yemeni branch means there is no border in these kind of operations, and the indigenous terror resources of both branches are available to the unified group (AQAP). The cave article from Alshaq Alawasat, dtd June 09:
According to one of the [governmental] escorts, the cave that the Al Qaeda cell used overlooks the village of Said Ali Al Shihri, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who recently appeared in a video attributed to the Al Qaeda in Yemen organization threatening to carry out attacks against Saudi Arabia. The Southern Cave is in close proximity to the border region between Saudi Arabia and Yemen…
The main cave was used by members of the cell for the storage of arms and foodstuffs, and occasionally as a temporary place of shelter also. The cave is located 155 km or two hours from the city of Abha, which is the capital of the Asir province. The cave is one of a series of small isolated caves in the Sarwat mountainside, which stretches from the Western region of Saudi Arabia to Yemen. This mountain range is 1000 meters above sea level at its lowest point and 2200 meters above sea level at its highest…
Amongst the items found in the cave were; military uniforms, boots, helmets, knives, various types of weaponry and other miscellaneous items. This gives a clear indication to the type of terrorist operation planned by the cell. It seems that the location of the Southern Cell’s cave was chosen in mind of the difficulty of it being discovered, and the ease with which members of the cell might flee in the event of this actually occurring.
The Al Qaeda cell did not even discount the possibility of escape from the security authorities by use of parachute (ed- hang gliders? ?) , and Asharq Al-Awsat has learnt that a number of the cell members were intending to use parachutes in order to jump from the high mountainside and land safely in an effort to escape the security authorities.
The location chosen for the cave indicates that it was to be used as a safe house for their operations, and may have been used to imprison hostages, and film them for propaganda purposes, as well as in order to shelter the cell members from the security forces.
