Armies of Liberation

Update: Tacky, they corrected it without noting the correction: Three of the seven men involved in an attack against the US embassy in Yemen in September were graduates of the Yemeni rehabilitation programme.

But at least we know the story is what we thought it was.

Original Post:
What? BBC sez: Three of the seven men involved in an attack against the US embassy in Yemen in September were former Guantanamo detainees who had gone through the Yemeni rehabilitation programme.

That’s the first I heard of that, there were 13 returned from Gitmo prior to Hamden. Three of the embassy attackers were returnees from Iraq. I haven’t read anything about the embassy attackers having been repatriated from Gitmo. I’m so not in the mood to start matching up names. This is a clerical error, yes?

4 persons charged of al-Qaeda affiliation prosecuted
Monday, 24-November-2008
Almotamar.net - Specialized First Instance Court in Yemen decided entrusting the prosecution with addressing lawyers union to retain a lawyer for defending four persons accused of forming an armed gang for carrying out criminal acts and affiliation to al-Qaeda organisation and postponed their trial to the 24th of next December.

At the beginning of the sitting for trial of defendants Tawfiq Saad Ali al-Faqieh , 22, worker in Sana’a , Ali Ahmed al-Zaroud , 23, driver ,Sana’a Nabil Ahmed Ali al-Sarihi35, driver. Amran and Ismael Ali Hizam Ghurab, 23, bookshop owner, Ibb, the prosecution presented the indictment.

The indictment included the said defendants taking part in formation of n armed gang for committing criminal acts targeting foreign tourists, foreign, government and security institutions and hotels where there are foreigners. They have prepared explosives and detonation devices and explosive belts and for that purpose they had distributed tasks among them.

Indictment pointed out their training on use of various weapons and spotting tourist hotels in Sana’a, the old city in addition to plotting the Red Cross on the Yemeni-Saudi borders. The indictment disclosed the defendants planning to target tourists at Dar Hajar with explosive belts.

The court also held a sitting for the prosecution of Zain Ali Amer al-Amiri accused of the attempt to explode an oil pipeline in Sarwah, Mareb. But the defendant denied the charge of the attempt to explode the oil pipeline and confessed of highway robbery and opening fire on military posts. At the enc of the sitting the court decided to postpone the trial to 24 December 2008.

Alleged Qaeda members go on trial in Yemen

1 hour ago

SANAA (AFP) — Eight alleged members of Al-Qaeda cells have been brought before a special terrorism court in Sanaa accused of plotting to attack tourists and government facilities, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

Four suspected members of one cell made their first appearance before the court on Monday while the trial of the second group, also comprising four members, began on Tuesday, the source said.

Members of the first cell are accused of “forming an armed group with the intention of attacking tourists and hotels as well as government installations,” the charge sheet stated.

They are also alleged to have planned an attack against the Red Cross near the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The four, all Yemenis aged between 22 and 35, are alleged to have prepared bombs and explosive belts. They allegedly had identified targets within Sanaa’s old city but were arrested before carrying out any attacks.

Their next hearing was fixed for December 24.

The second group, comprising four Yemenis aged between 15 and 24, are accused of plotting terrorist acts and of possessing explosives.

According to prosecutors, they wanted to launch attacks against tourists and government facilities to avenge the death at the hands of the security forces of a fellow militant, Hamza al-Kaithi.

Their trial was postponed to December 13.

A security official told AFP that the eight accused are among dozens of Yemenis suspected of being linked to Al-Qaeda. The authorities are still investigating charges of terrorism against some 60 other people.

Yemen has witnessed a series of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda in recent months against oil facilities and the security forces.

Update the other flakey thing is designating Saad as sucessor, when its Hamza supposedly.

The US intercepted this letter? Why isn’t it in a US paper? If Iran is funding and facilitiating AQ in Yemen, then things are a bit more crowded on the Yemen playground than I thought or in a different way anyway. If Zawaheri is sending out thank you notes, then he’s claiming the embassy attack for AQ Central. Kinda an odd story yes?

Update: consensus is- flakey!

Telegraph: Iran receives al Qaeda praise for role in terrorist attacks.

Fresh links between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and al-Qaeda have been uncovered following interception of a letter from the terrorist leadership that hails Tehran’s support for a recent attack on the American embassy in Yemen, which killed 16 people.

Delivery of the letter exposed the rising role of Saad bin Laden, son of the al-Qaeda leader, Osama as an intermediary between the organisation and Iran. Saad bin Laden has been living in Iran since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, apparently under house arrest.

The letter, which was signed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second in command, was written after the American embassy in Yemen was attacked by simultaneous suicide car bombs in September.

Western security officials said the missive thanked the leadership of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for providing assistance to al-Qaeda to set up its terrorist network in Yemen, which has suffered ten al-Qaeda-related terror attacks in the past year, including two bomb attacks against the American embassy.

(Read on …)

Oh my, implying security officials had something to do with the embassy attack, tsk tsk.

YEMEN: Website blocked, blogger harassed
Menassat

CAIRO, November 19, 2008 (ANHRI/IFEX) – The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has strongly condemned the harassment and threats against engineer Nashwan Abdu Ali Ghanim, whose blog on Katib website http://helal08.katib.org is now blocked in Yemen by the state security. The threats and harassment are based on his articles about the consequences of a terrorist operation targeting the U.S. embassy in Yemen, in which he accused certain political and military leaders of being involved in the attacks.

ANHRI denounces the harassment, which violates international laws and conventions, as well as Yemen’s own constitution. ANHRI considers this action a breach of democratic principles, which the regime in Yemen claims to protect, and calls on Yemeni authorities to end the threats against Ghanim and guarantee his safety. The group also demands the immediate withdrawal of troops surrounding Ghanim’s house, the investigation of his case and the immediate unblocking of his blog.

ANHRI reminds the Yemeni authorities of their obligations towards international conventions following their participation in a 2006 donor conference for states adopting democracy. In particular, ANHRI reminds the authorities to respect Article 19 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and of the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights, which deals with freedom of expression.

In the same context, ANHRI calls on human rights organizations at the local, regional and international level, as well as donor institutions, to support Ghanim and pressure the Yemeni authorities to guarantee his physical integrity and end persecutions against expression and opinion activists.

I am oddly uninterested in issues five and six of the Echo of Epics magazine and their description of breaching the embassy’s outer perimeter, and before that I was less than fascinated by the forum postings, phone calls, emails, letter bombs, youtube videos, faxes to AFP (heh), and audio recordings among the myriad of prior Yemeni al-Qaeda communications. But this one makes some sense, especially when you factor in the whole thing with al-Qamish, head of the PSO. (But if its from Abu Jindal, and not Abu al-Feida, then maybe its just more yayayayaya.) However I’m off on my own in my view of the configuration of the local, regional and central al-Qaeda network, and there is a substantial compendium of opposing views. There was only one analysis previously, in Newsweek, that advanced the theory that UBL would have had to sign off on the embassy attack, and it was met with some astoundment, but it made sense to me considering the strong historical relationship in Yemen that is missing in Iraq and Thailand and India and so forth. The following is a google translation of the al-Quds al-Arabya article:

Sanaa ‘Arab Jerusalem’ (Al-Quds al-Arybia) from Khalid Al Hammadi: A source close to the leadership of a local organization in Yemen to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, his followers implement the largest military operation against the United States far exceed the 11 September (September), aspire to change In the world politically and economically.

He said of the ‘Arab Jerusalem’ that this process will be large in response to Washington’s rejection of the truce by al Qaeda for Western countries led by the United States, and that ‘this process will be implemented in the near future’ and make the September 11 (September) a thing of the past.

The ‘Implementation of this process a matter of time, and the implementation of regulatory orders have been issued by the organization’s leader, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, the timing of implementation remains subject to the completion of the process well prepared and opportunities’.

The ‘Al-Qaeda is currently the best stages, where he became the most powerful level since its inception in number and equipment and training in many countries around the world and it has become systematic and widespread and not confined to elective’.

He cited an example that al Qaeda was currently governing most areas of Somalia, and that the Taliban control most of the territory of Afghanistan, while many of the tribal chieftains in the provinces of Marib and Jawf, Saada and Shabwa in Yemen Bayaoa formal leadership of a local organization in their country, they engaged in the organization out of Ideological and not tribal as in the past.

He pointed out that the al Qaeda-time during the past year pursuit by the security services of Western and Arab training and polarization and horizontal expansion, and the global war on terrorism served the organization unless they serve each other factors, where ‘organization benefited from the mistakes committed by Washington and Arab regimes partners In the war against terrorism to attract all those affected by the global war who were not linked to any organization in advance ‘.

A source who asked not be named for security reasons, a leader of a former al-Qaida and still continues to this day with some of its leadership and Osama bin Laden sent a letter six months ago to all Al-Qaeda cells in the Arab world of refusing to negotiate with the political system, not Feasibility of, the content of ‘Leave it to negotiate with evil regimes’. It was reported that the letter arrived to the leadership of a local organization in Yemen against the backdrop of the Yemeni attempt to open channels of dialogue with al-Qaeda to convince them to cease terrorist operations in Yemen against both Western interests or interests Yemeni-for settlement of their status and their integration into society.

He pointed out that ‘upon the receipt of the letter began the organizational leadership of al Qaeda in Yemen of plotting quality of its operations in Yemen, the first of the latest operations against the U.S. embassy in Sanaa in September (September), after a break of several years’.

He emphasized that the process of planning and directing carried out by the Emir of al-Qaeda in Yemen Nasser Louhichi (Waheshi), one of the most prominent of the 23 escapees from the prison of the Central Agency for Political Security (Intelligence) in Sanaa.

He pointed out that al-Qaeda in Yemen over the past years time to arrange its internal affairs and attracting influential figures in society, particularly those personalities otherwise sharply with the political system, most notably the tribal leaders in the provinces of Marib and Jawf, Saada and Shabwa.

The operations carried out during the past two years against Western interests in Yemen and the government has not implemented al-Qaeda, but al Qaeda in the Peninsula, which now leads the Alqaaiti Hamza, was killed in a confrontation with police a few months ago in the Hadramawt.
He expected to see the Yemeni arena in the coming period of the quality of the base, which Yemeni authorities are trying to mitigate the doubling of its security

This kind of matches the statement phoned in to al-Wasat about Sheikh Latif.

So far they are supposed to be a) some gradutes from Judge al-Hittar’s program, b) three returnees from Iraq and c) from Hodeidah, or according to official statements d) from Hadramout and Marib.

AFP

DUBAI (AFP) — An Al-Qaeda group says seven of its fighters were killed when they attacked the US mission in Yemen in September and also claims an embassy official died in the strike, a US monitoring service reported on Friday.

The Yemen interior ministry had said six Yemeni soldiers, six civilians and six attackers, including one wearing an explosives belt, were killed in the September 17 attack on the highly-fortified US embassy in Sanaa.

The SITE Intelligence Group said an Al-Qaeda in Yemen branch had in an internet posting named the seven “martyrs” and had given a vivid description of how they had had breached the razor-tight security of the embassy in two vehicles.

It said the group comprised scholar and fighter Lutf Muhammad Abu Abdul-Rahman and six of his students.

The group, Al-Qaeda in the South of the Arabian Peninsula, threatened further attacks to deliver a “taste of horrors.”

“So, tighten your guard, increase your security measures for embassies and all dens of the Crusaders,” the group warned.

It also claimed that a US administrative official had died in the clash but that his death was later reported as having been due to a car accident, SITE said in a release.

The US Embassy in Yemen posted a statement on its website saying administrative officer Jeffrey Patneau “died on October 4, 2008 from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident in Sanaa … (on) September 29, 2008.

“Recent claims to the contrary … regarding the circumstances of Mr. Patneau’s death are completely false,” it added without elaborating.

At the time of the embassy attack, US President George W. Bush said it was an attempt by extremists to drive the United States out of regions like the Middle East.

Yemen said some days after the incident it was holding six key suspects, including an Islamist militant, Abu Ghaith al-Yamani, who had claimed responsibility for the assault. It said some of those being had links to Al-Qaeda.

In recent months Yemen has seen a series of assaults on security services and oil installations claimed by groups linked to Al-Qaeda.

Experts have said that after being set back by the increased US military presence in Iraq, Islamists are focusing on Yemen as a new territory for their operations.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

Al-Qaeda has unveiled new details about the U.S Embassy attack last September 17 and killing a security officer by a letter bomb in Mareb last October.

The proclamation of the so-called “al-Qaeda in south of the Arab Peninsula” said the attackers were seven, not six as Yemeni authorities have previously announced. It said “the brave attack was carried out by Lutf Mohammad bin Bahr (Abu AbdulRahman) and other six Jihadists who could penetrate the embassy and kill guards of crusaders.”

The proclamation, first posted on al-Qaeda’s website Sada al-Malahim, claimed responsibility for killing the security director in Mareb Mohammad bin Kalan by a letter bomb last October.

It said bin Kalan was killed for offering assistance to Americans to hunt al-Qaeda’s leader in Yemen, Abu Ali al-Harethi, who was killed by a U.S Predator missile strike in Mareb in 2002. It said Kalan also has directly cooperated with the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a in hunting Jihadists in Mareb and al-Jawf.

The proclamation said that a US administrative officer has been possibly killed in the latest attack.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US Embassy in Sana’a denied al-Qaeda claims and said that the administrative officer Jeffrey Patneau, who worked at the Embassy, died on October 4, 2008 from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident in Sana’a on September 29, 2008.

“Recent claims to the contrary made in the international press regarding the circumstances of Mr. Patneau’s death are completely false,” said the statement.

And the terrorist media flood (vids, emails, statements, the magazine and a letter bomb) coming out of Yemen continues with the publication of issue 5 and 6 of the Echo of Epics. More to follow:

Memri: Al-Qaeda in Yemen has issued an announcement with new details of the September 17 attack on the U.S. Embassy in San’a, in which six Yemeni soldiers, five civilians, and the terrorists who carried out the attack were killed.

According to the announcement, the terrorists entered embassy grounds in two vehicles equipped with improvised armor, following a gun battle with guards. During the operation, a squad member phoned the organization’s communications unit to announce the success of the attack, even though the embassy was unharmed.

In another announcement, posted on the organization’s website, the organization took responsibility for the October 20 assassination of a Yemenite security agent whom it said collaborated with the U.S. against Al-Qaeda.

Source: Al-Hayat, London, November 10, 2008

They have their own website? I thought they posted to to the forums.

AP

Yemen identifies attackers in US embassy attack

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — The suicide squad that assaulted the U.S. embassy in Yemen in September had links to al-Qaida and some even had fought in Iraq, a Yemeni security official said Saturday.

The official added that the United Nations has raised its security level in Yemen in response to terrorist threats.

The six Yemeni men who carried out the Sept. 17 attack against the gates of the U.S. embassy were trained at al-Qaida camps in the southern Yemeni provinces of Hadramut and Marib and three of them had recently returned from Iraq, the official added.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The Yemeni security forces are hunting suspects in Hodeidah believed to be involved in a terrorist attack on U.S. Embassy in Sana’a last September.

Informed sources said the terrorist cell that carried out attack on the US embassy has links to al-Qaeda in neighboring Saudi Arabia and most suspects are from Hodeidah. This information does not go in line with previous official reports that most of attackers are from Hadramout.

Some members of the Hodeidah cell are among those released after promising to give up Jihadist ideas, said the source.

News Yemen

Empty Quarter

An al Qaeda source told al Wasat by telephone that the assassination of Mohammad Rabeysh Kalan was in retaliantion for the killing of four AQ operatives last year - Ali Doha, Abdul Aziz Jaradat, Naji Jaradat, and Amer Jaridat. The source said that the assassination came as was promised to the family of the martyrs…

The al Qaeda source also gave up the name of the US embassy bomber, “Mahmoud Saad,” but refused to give more details. The article reaffirms that the al Qaeda cell which attacked the embassy was actually from Hodeidah, and includes the prominent jihadist”Sheikh Latif.”

update 2: Yemen uncovered a network consisting of 40 Mossad spies using Islam to reach their goals….: Yemen Observer: The network was comprised of 40 people from different Arab nationalities spying for Mossad, the Israeli international intelligence said sources from National and Political Security Units. The members of the espionage network entered Yemen on the premise of conducting business, tourism and even for preaching in mosques. Saleh said that the suspected spies form a terrorism cell that uses also Islam to reach their targets.Members were arrested individually and found to be in possession of detailed maps for sensitive security sites, intelligence telecommunication units and advanced tracking devices.

The six Islamic Jihad members arrested for threatening western embassies after the US embassy attack have ties to Israeli intell, Saleh claims. showing the depth of his committment to finding the guilty parties for sure. Well at least we now know that Emad Ali Saeed al-Rwoni is “Abu al-Gaith al-Miqdad al-Yamani” and another cell member is named Bassam Abdullah Fadhel al-Haidari.

Update: The evidence is letters, I know how accurate correspondence introduced into trial in Yemen can be…

DPA: SANAA: Six militants from the Islamic Jihad organisation arrested by Yemeni police had tried to approach an Israeli intelligence agency for help to carry out terrorist attacks in the Arab state, a security source said yesterday.
The source’s comments come one day after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Yemeni police had dismantled a terrorist cell five days ago that was linked to Israeli intelligence services.
The unnamed source told the official Saba news agency that police had seized “written communications between the cell’s second-in-command Bassam Abdullah al-Haidari, and an Israeli intelligence agency, in which he asked for support to carry out terrorist acts inside Yemen.”
The source said the cell was dismantled in September after its alleged leader, Emad Ali al-Rawni, alias Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, issued two statements claiming responsibility for the car bombing outside the US embassy on September 17, which killed 18 people.
The source did not clarify whether the discrepancy in dates, or if the two cells were the same.
Abu al-Ghaith, who signed the statements as the leader of the Islamic Jihad Organisation in Yemen, threatened more attacks against Arab and Western embassies in Sanaa, including those of Britain and Saudi Arabia. - DPA

Almotamar.net,Saba - Investigations with the six-member terrorist cell of “Islamic Jihad” arrested late in September have disclosed an alleged link to Israeli intelligence, a security source said on Tuesday.

The investigations and the computer seized with the cell have revealed of correspondence between the cell’s deputy leader named Bassam Abdullah Fadhel al-Haidari and an intelligence body in Israel, which has been included a support request to implement terrorist acts inside Yemen, according to the source.

Investigations are still underway, the source said, adding that when completion, the case’s file would be sent to justice.

During his meeting with officials and dignitaries in Hadramout governorate, President Ali Abdullah Saleh unearthed last Monday arresting a terrorist cell has links with Israeli intelligence, despite raising a banner for Islam.

The cell included six members led by Emad Ali Saeed al-Rwoni, known as “Abu al-Gaith al-Miqdad al-Yamani”. It has sent several threatening letters of targeting Arab and foreign embassies in Yemen such as embassies of Britain Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

The cell has been arrested after a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy on Wednesday September 17, when a twin car bomb has rocked the US embassy in Sana’a killing 16 people including seven of troops guarding the embassy and four civilians and six attackers. The civilians included two Yemenis, an Indian women and a US citizen from a Yemeni origin.

Related, Iranian spies: MEMRI

In Yemen, Trial Of Three Accused Of Forming Iran Spy Network Begins

The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa reports that the trial of three Yemenites accused of establishing a network for spying for Iran and of planning to harm vital Yemeni interests will be brought to court for their first day of trial today. Source: Al-Siyassa, Kuwait, October 7, 2008

YemenTimes

SANA’A, Oct. 5 — The initial findings of an investigation into the attack on the American embassy in Sana’a last month have indicated that two Al-Qaeda members were among the six attackers killed during the incident, and that one of them was Qasem Al-Raimi who had escaped from political prison in Sana’a in 2006, according to information received by the Yemen Times.

The findings, not confirmed by an official source, maintained that Qasem Al-Raimi, a wanted member of the Al-Qaeda shura council in Yemen, was among the armed group that targeted the American embassy with two cars including a car bomb, killing seven security men and five civilians including a Yemeni girl holding the American citizenship last month.

Al-Raimi, 30, is considered to be the last among three Al-Qaeda affiliates on a list of the 23 men who escaped from political prison in February 2006. The other two are Nasser Al-Wahshi, 31, commander of the Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and Ibrahim Huaidi, 25.

The other 20 men on the list have reportedly either surrendered themselves to government authorities or been killed by Yemeni security apparatuses.

Abdul Elah Haidar, a writer who specializes in affairs of terrorism, considered this information about the identity of the attackers to be incorrect as the attackers were “new personalities who the FBI was not able to identify”. He added, “If there had been any Al-Qaeda leaders among the attackers, it would have been announced earlier.”

(Read on …)

Official: 25 arrested over US embassy attack
By PAUL SCHEMM and AHMED AL-HAJ – 1 hour ago

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Authorities arrested at least 25 militants with suspected links to al-Qaida in connection with the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, a senior security official said Thursday.

The Yemeni official said the 25 have been rounded up from various parts of Yemen over the past 24 hours and were being questioned by Yemeni and U.S. investigators.

It is not unusual for authorities in Yemen, a key partner in the U.S.-led war on terror but for years an al-Qaida stronghold, to round up a large number of suspects in the wake of a terror attack.

I dont think so personally but its early. Somalia is an interesting thought. And not necessarily someone released from jail recently. These things do take a bit of time. The article makes the point that its the largest attack on a US facility since 9/11.

Deadly Training Ground
Are Al Qaeda fighters returning home from Iraq to launch new attacks against U.S. targets?

Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 17, 2008 | Updated: 6:32 p.m. ET Sep 17, 2008
The car bombing outside the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, which killed 16 people Wednesday, is the deadliest single terrorist attack on a U.S. government facility since September 11—and, say U.S. counter-terrorism officials, it is a powerful reminder that Al Qaeda and its allies remain a lethal force on the Arabian Peninsula.

No Americans were hurt in the early morning attack in which militants—armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades—sought to penetrate the heavily fortified compound that surrounds the U.S. Embassy in Sana. But a subsequent gun battle with Yemeni security forces and an explosion set off minutes later by suicide bombers, killed more people than any terror attack aimed at a U.S. government or military installation outside Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, U.S. officials said.

“The answer is yes. This is the largest attack against a U.S. facility since 9/11,” a U.S. counter-terrorism official (who asked not to identified by name) e-mailed NEWSWEEK in response to questions. That grim milestone could undercut claims of overall success in the war on terror. Indeed, Yemen—as much as Pakistan and Afghanistan—remains a country where U.S. counter-terrorism efforts have been hampered by repeated setbacks.

(Read on …)

Al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - Deputy Premier for Defence and Security Affairs Dr Rashad al-Alimi affirmed Thursday that the terrorist operation that attempted the attack on the American embassy in Sana’a comes as reaction to and retaliatory operations especially after the blows received by the terrorist elements at the hands of the security apparatuses.

Al-Alimi said were it not for the wakefulness of security men, their bravery and ability to end up the terrorists and blasting their car bombs a disaster could have happened. He pointed out that most of the attacking terrorists were carrying explosive belts and they used large quantities of gas cylinders to create a huge explosive and destructive power.
The terrorist attack on the American embassy in Yemen led to the death of 6 security men in addition to three wounded. according to 26 September newspaper in its Thursday issue it said among the civilian people killed in the incident were a Yemeni man and a woman , an Iraqi man and an Indian woman.

NYT: The official also said that an initial review of security videotapes taken outside the embassy indicated that as many as three of the attackers were wearing suicide vests, another hallmark of Al Qaeda. Two attackers detonated or partially detonated their vests; a third attacker was shot by Yemeni security forces before he could blow himself up.