Armies of Liberation

Qatani was designated as a member of a terror group this week by the US. State Dept. and the UN along with Qasim al Reimi.

Guardian A senior leader of the al-Qaida cell which attempted to assassinate the British ambassador to Sanaa and blow up a US passenger jet last Christmas has been killed in Saudi Arabia, according to a Yemeni source close to the group.

Nayif Mohammed Saeed al-Qahtani, described as the link man between the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed in a shoot-out last month with Saudi security forces, according to a Yemeni journalist, AbdulElah Shaea. (Read on …)

PETN is so last year… This is all coming from the governor of Abyan, al Maseri. A Pakistani expert came to Yemen last year to train them on smaller, undetectable explosives and he died at some point in a work accident. Another Pakistani gave training on poisen gases. Four months ago they got aid with the help of non-Yemenis in the organization. Al Maseri says the security forces found a similiar substance to that used to attack Prince Naif.

Saudi Gazette Pakistani built bomb to kill Prince, says Yemeni official
By Abdullah Al-Oraifij
ABYAN, Yemen – Dramatic new claims have been made that a Pakistani explosives expert was responsible for manufacturing the bomb that was used by a suicide bomber in a failed attempt to assassinate Prince Muhammad Bin Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Assistant Interior Minister for Security Affairs at his palace in Jeddah last August.
Talking to Okaz, Ahmad Al-Maseeri, Governor of Abyan in Yemen, said that the man who made the explosive capsule, used by Abdullah Hasan Al-Asiri in his attempt to kill the Prince, was a Pakistani. (Read on …)

PETN, our new vocabulary word, was used in both the attack of Prince Naif and in the recent airliner incident. In both cases the explosive device was sewn into underware. The Nigerian says he was trained at a camp near Sana’a (Arhab?), and recruited online by a “radical cleric” who facilitated contact with al Qaeda in Yemen. The Yemeni government hasn’t yet recieved any official communications from the US on the matter. Full coverage of the earlier attack on Prince Naif here in my category, Attacks-Prince.

MSNBC: U.S. agencies are looking into whether al-Qaida extremists in Yemen directed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and provided him with the explosives used in the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253, senior administration officials told NBC News on Saturday. (Read on …)

Article dated Oct 12, haven’t gotten to it until now.

Dawn:

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has handed over to Saudi Arabia two sons of top Yemeni Al Qaeda leader Alawi who masterminded the suicide attack on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammad bin Nayef in Jeddah last month. (Read on …)

Related: al Alawi’s sons in PK arrested, said to be involved in failed keister bombing of Prince Naif: (Read on …)

I guess they couldn’t do a trial run on this one:

Bomber had half kilo of explosives inside his body
Saudi Gazette:
JEDDAH – Suicide bomber Abdullah Asiri had inserted around half a kilogram of explosives into his own body to carry out his failed assassination attempt of Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, last week.
As more details emerged of the events surrounding the attack that took place at the Prince’s home in Obhur, sources told Okaz newspaper Friday that Asiri’s mobile telephone was equipped with two SIM cards, one of which was used to speak to call members of the terrorist organization in Yemen, and the other to detonate the device located inside Asiri’s rectum via a call from the group. (Read on …)

The arrest of the 44 Saudi al Qaeda raises the question if these 44 were elements of AQAP based in Yemen and, considering their age and education, what is their role in the organization. Who is taking orders from who? As in the bombing of the US embassy in Sept 08, the assassination attempt on SA’s counter-terror chief likely required approval from the leadership of Al Qaeda Central. Conversely, considering the loose cell structure of Al Qaeda, were these 44 a semi-autonomous Saudi group with little to no relationship to AQAP in Yemen? The attack on Prince Naif certainly does re-direct focus on the inability of President Saleh’s regime to maintain a consistent posture on counter-terror. Just as the Southerners and the Houthis do not have a partner for peace in Saleh, Saudi Arabia and the US don’t have a sincere ally in regional efforts to diminish al Qaeda.

AFP

In the latest blow to Al-Qaeda, Saudi security forces last month arrested 44 members, many of whom were described as highly educated, and uncovered large arms caches.

“The new tactic for Al-Qaeda is to be based in Yemen and execute attacks in Saudi Arabia,” said Saudi writer Faress bin Hezam.

“It is clear that the Yemeni government has limited capabilities to combat Al-Qaeda. They are also not able to benefit from the Saudi experience in this field… There isn’t a serious fight against Al-Qaeda in Yemen,” added Hezam who specialises in monitoring Islamist groups.

Government capabilities in impoverished Yemen are already stretched thin, with a Shiite rebellion in the north demanding its troops, and a growing separatist mood in the former South Yemen.

“Trouble in Yemen makes it a suitable environment for Al-Qaeda to grow,” said Khsheiban, stressing that such territorial growth should be contained.

Sounds a bit teh gay to me, bad gay not good gay.

Strafor: The third tactical shift is perhaps the most interesting, and that is the use of an IED hidden in the anal cavity of the bomber…Such keistered items can be very difficult to detect using standard search methods, especially if they do not contain much metal…Having wires protruding from the bomber’s body would be a sure giveaway.

Yemen Post An expert in Al-Qaeda affairs who spoke in anonymity said that disguising oneself in women’s clothing such as Abaya remained one of the most successful ways that Al-Qaeda cells freely move around in Islamic countries.

He said that the suspect’s capture is expected to reduce the number of locations used for fatal aid smuggling and hinder facilitator operations in the Saudi lands.

He further said that smugglers were able to freely move from one region to another as they could vary their external appearance and said a person would see them in beards, and in others without. “The use cosmetic tools to change the color of his skin,” he added.

Aha, getting to the actual roots of the issue, Takfir and the legitimizing of others deaths based on doctrinal disagreements. AFP follows up on the assassination attempt on Prince Naif.

“We need to restructure Islamic teaching at schools,” said Hezam, arguing that the fight has been confined to the security front and did not address the real threat.

Another Saudi analyst, who did not wish to be named, said the “roots of the problem have so far not been addressed,” insisting that the Takfiri discourse, which accuses opponents of being apostates, continues to flourish in Saudi Arabia.

“People who promote Takfiri thoughts are not held accountable unless they start to form a danger to the government,” he told AFP. “There has not been a serious strategy to combat this ideology.”

Khsheiban argued that AL-Qaeda ideology in Saudi Arabia should be tackled by allowing more space for moderates.

“The best way to combat the extremist ideology is not just through military confrontation, but also through strengthening the moderate discourse… It is there, but it needs the support of society and the state,” he said.

“The open religious discourse in Saudi Arabia is moderate, but the danger is in the extremist discourse… This creates extremist elements and nourishes terrorism,” he added.

But hope of seeing a change appears dim, said Hezam.

“Nothing will change in Saudi Arabia in the next 30 years. Even if change (strategy) starts right now, it would take at least 15 years to start seeing results,” he said.

And the Hashemite king of Jordan sat in as well… Just a friendly get together so they both could praise Saleh and brotherly relations. Prince
Sultan Abdul Aziz is the Saudi Defense Minister.

Almotamar.net, Saba – President Ali Abdullah Saleh held talks IN THE Moroccan city of Agadir on Wednesday with Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz and King of Jordan Abdullah II. (Read on …)

so they pick up any random three and call it an investigation….

Saudi Gazette MAREB, Yemen – Three suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been arrested in the Yemeni region of Marib since the beginning of the week.

Governor of Mareb Naji Al-Zayedi told Okaz newspaper Tuesday said that the arrests were the result of security campaigns following the attempted assassination of Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs last Thursday.

“The security services are investigating the three detained to discover their links with the terrorist organization and if they have been involved in terrorist acts,” Al-Zayedi said.

Al-Zayedi admitted that there had been a presence in the region of leading members of Al-Qaeda, headed by Yemeni Nasser Al-Wohaishi, alias “Abu Basir,” and large numbers of followers, among them Yemenis, Saudis, Libyans, Moroccans, Egyptians and Algerians.

“The tightening of security, however, has forced them to flee to other areas,” Al-Zayedi said, indicating their movements as conducted between the regions of Marib, Shabwa, Abyan and Al-Jouf.

Al-Zayed said the three followed the “between 30 and 40” suspects detained last month. – Okaz/SG

akkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Fill in the blank: “What an _______!”

Gulf Daily News: KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has tightened security at oil facilities after the country’s anti-terror chief, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, escaped a suicide attack, guards at Abqaiq, the world’s biggest oil processing plant, said yesterday….

Al Qaeda, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and said that the bomber, Abdullah Hassan Taleh Al Asiri, had managed to pass security checkpoints and board a private aircraft, Site Intelligence said yesterday…Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV said Asiri was a 23-year-old Saudi whose brother Ibrahim was also on the wanted list.

It said the attacker concealed the explosives in his anus, allowing him to evade detection.

The network also quoted an expert as saying that the method of concealment aimed the blast away from the target, while blowing the bomber to bits….

awwwwwwwww

NEFA: Al-Qaida also claimed to have uncovered “a network of spies and collaborators who are in league with that criminal [Nayef] and which the government of Yemen is oblivious to. There are exciting details that we will announce later, Allah-willing.”

But where’s Saleh’s network of spies? That was always the justification given for all the terrorist releases, they were going to report back to the Yemeni government.

Update: Abdullah Hassan Aseeri, from Aseer in Saudi Arabia, Saudi origin and citizenship

JEDDAH // The suicide bomber who targeted Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister Prince Mohammed Bin Naif on Thursday had been based in an area of Yemen known to be a base for many al Qa’eda militants, Yemen’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

The fact that a militant was able to get into Saudi Arabia so easily and target a high-ranking politician and prince has added to fears in Riyadh that the current unrest in Yemen could pose problems in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

The suicide bomber had come from Mareb, east of Sana’a, Yemen’s foreign minister, Abu-Bakr al Qirbi, said. The foreign minister said the man claimed he wanted to hand himself over to Saudi authorities and urge other militants to turn their back on al Qa’eda.

Its not the unrest that is posing problems but the lack of the Yemeni government’s committment to battling al Qaeda. Of all the insurgencies the Yemeni regime is facing, including the southern separatists and northern rebellion, al Qaeda is the most manageable and the most beneficial.

With the Yemeni government is deploying terrorists in its war against Shiite rebels, as it has before, there is a little motivation to crackdown on the group. Note the Yemeni FM says Yemen knows that al Qaeda is based in Marib, but the government doesn’t attempt to engage them.

The Al Qaeda threat brings foreign aid from Saudi Arabia and the US to Yemeni President Saleh’s regime that other anti-government groups do not. Thus the southern protesters get shot on the street and the Yemeni military is currently bombing cities in the north, but al Qaeda gets a pass.

The Saudi/Yemeni border is difficult to control because much of the smuggling is accomplished by Yemen’s security forces.

Related: The recent arrest of 44 al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia shows the “Saudi AQ moved to Yemen” meme in a new light. I’m not questioning that there are Saudi AQ in Yemen, just the broader structure:

They are mostly aged from their late twenties to early sixties, the ministry said. He told Agence France-Presse: “These people have links to the original al Qa’eda organisation.

“These people, I would describe them like a base, they actually work in the area, recruiting young people, giving young people the ideology of al Qa’eda, and financing terrorism in the kingdom,” he added.

Alawsat:

the Interior Ministry’s statement focused on the high academic qualifications obtained by the detainees, their experiences and mature ages, and this is evident in the positions they held. The statement mentioned that some of those suspects abused the trust that had been placed in them.

However, in my opinion, the most important issue that the statement tried to highlight was that those suspects did not only encourage and support [terrorism] but are in a more advanced stage of violent activity by religious groups; a stage in which there is experience and high-level qualifications. Some of them work as lecturers, some are established employees and others are businessmen.