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| Arabia |
| Tawhid planned to kill Yemeni officials |
| 2005-05-24 |
| A terrorist group has been accused of planning to assassinate Yemeni officials, including Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bajammal; political advisor to the President, Abdul-Karim Al-Eryani; Chief of Political Security, Ghalib Al-Qamish; Minister of the Interior, Rashad Al-Alimi, and the Minister of Defense, Ali Aliwah. The group, believed to be an Al-Qaeda cell and who give themselves the operation name "Al-Tawhid", consists of eight members currently on trial before the Yemeni special court. The eight, who stood trial last March, were accused of preparing to launch attacks against the British Embassy, the Italian Embassy and the French Cultural Center in Sana'a. Last Monday, however, prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil added further charges saying that documents recently found on a defendant's computer revealed the group had planned to assassinate senior members of the government as well as attack state buildings and World Bank offices in Sana'a. The prosecutor also exhibited documents allegedly printed from a computer belonging to Anwar Al-Jilani, an Iraqi national and the group leader, which disclosed plans to attack Yemeni institutions, including Political Security Organization headquarters, Parliament, radio and TV buildings and Yemenia Airways offices. The terrorist group is made up of two Syrians, a Kuwaiti of Iraqi origin and five Yemenis. During the latest sessions the prosecutor accused the suspects planning to attack military bases in neighboring Saudi Arabia as well attacks in Bahrain, Kuwait, Europe and the United States. Yemen's ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Khaled Al-Akwaa', was quoted in the Saudi daily Okaz as saying: "The information provided by the Saudi kingdom spared Yemen attacks which terrorist cells related to Al-Qaeda planned to carry out in acts of sabotage against foreign interests and government installation." He said that Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been exchanging information through hot lines in an effort to combat terrorism and hunt down Al-Qaeda operatives. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |