Fugitive Al-Qaeda suspect Jamal al-Badawi, who was convicted for the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors, has surrendered to authorities, an official said Tuesday. Witnesses said Badawi — who featured on a US list of most-wanted terrorists with a five-million-dollar bounty on his head — had been allowed to return to his home in the southern port city of Aden. Badawi, one of 23 suspected Al-Qaeda militants who escaped from a prison in the Yemeni capital in February 2006, "gave himself up to security agencies," an interior ministry official said in a statement.Two escapees remain at large. The others have either given themselves up or were arrested or killed by security forces. He was sentenced to death in September 2004 for the 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole off Aden, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda, but an appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.
A witness in Aden told AFP that Badawi had returned to his home two days ago amid reports in the neighbourhood that authorities had allowed him to go home in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or Al-Qaeda-related activity. Neighbours of Badawi confirmed seeing him at his home.A source close to security services meanwhile told AFP that Badawi's surrender had come as a result of negotiations between Yemeni authorities and Al-Qaeda militants in the Arabian Peninsula country. The authorities are pursuing their hunt for the two other Al-Qaeda prison escapees who are still on the run — Kassem al-Raimi and Nasser al-Wehaishi &0151; who are considered among top militants in the group, the source said. The government is also trying to start negotiations with them through tribal mediators, the source added, requesting anonymity.
The Yemeni interior ministry had accused the fugitives of masterminding a July 2 suicide bombing in Marib, 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of Sanaa, which killed eight Spanish tourists and two local drivers. Badawi and the two fugitives are also among some three dozen Yemenis on trial on charges of planning or carrying out attacks for Al-Qaeda. These include an abortive twin attack in September 2006 on an oil refinery at Marib and petrol storage tanks at the Dhabba terminal operated by the Canadian firm Nexen in southeastern Hadramut province. A verdict is due on November 7.