| Followup on our story from yesterday. |
All five are Muslims and have been studying
"We are a school of peace. Our students could not be involved," the Iman said in a prepared statement, "and the Americans have been driven back from Baghdad Airport," he added.
Earlier reports had said three Australians and a Dane were arrested. But the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information to
He did not specify the nationalities of the other three foreigners and said investigations were ongoing.
Marin Countystanis? Berkeleyites?
The arrests are part of a state security campaign launched last month against members of an al-Qaida cell.
On Thursday, a Danish Foreign Ministry official confirmed the arrest of the Dane but refused to identify him. Danish media said the suspect is a 23-year-old man who converted to Islam and moved to Yemen two months ago with his wife and child.
Nipped in the bud.
The security official said another detainee, Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sinhi, also known as Abu Dujana al-Misiki, admitted he'd been assigned to carry out an attack with an explosive-laden car on San'a international airport.
Yemen is believed to be a frequent route for smuggling arms to Somali factions. Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. The al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
The IHT