President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed that three Al-Qaeda inmates who were part of a group that managed to escape from a Yemeni jail earlier this month have given themselves up to the government.Saleh told the London-based Al-Hayat Arabic-language daily that security forces were also in contact with other fugitives among the group of 23 militants that escaped from a SanaÂ’a jail in February.
He did not give any details about the escapees that had surrendered, Reuters quoted the Arabic daily. “So far, three have given themselves up and we are in contact with the rest of them and they are for certain still inside the country,” president of Yemen told the paper. “They want to give themselves up and most of them have finished the majority of their sentence already.”
Some Saudi media had linked some of the escaped prisoners to a foiled attack on a major Saudi oil refinery on Friday.
| Oh I am so surprised. I don't think they did, but it doesn't surprise me at all that a Saoodi newsrag would blame Yemenis instead of the home-grown talent. |
On the other hand, the Yemeni authorities put last Wednesday on trial 17 men, including five Saudis, charged with planning attacks against US interests in the country on the orders of the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The prosecutor said the defendants had planned to carry out “criminal attacks” to avenge the US Central Intelligence Agency’s killing of a top Al-Qaeda operative in 2002.
He said they had travelled to Iraq and then returned to Yemen in 2004 to “carry out their mission on the directives of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi”. The defendants admitted to going to Iraq but denied planning any attacks in Yemen. “Our problem with the United States is in Iraq, not Yemen,” said the leader of the group, Ali Al-Sayyad Al-Harithi.
He said he had received explosive-making training in Iraq but that he had left after he said that John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 US presidential election, had threatened Yemen. “I wanted to defend my country,” he added.
| I call bs. No way John Kerry threatened anyone. Wasn't this guy paying attention? |