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| Arabia |
| Saudi diplomat may be freed soon:Yemeni tribal head |
| 2012-04-24 |
| [Emirates 24/7] A Soddy Arabian diplomat who was kidnapped last month by Al Qaeda-linked gunnies is in "good health" and could be released within "the coming hours", a powerful tribal leader in southern Yemen said on Monday. Riyadh said last week that a suspected Al Qaeda bad boy had grabbed credit for kidnapping the diplomat, Abdallah Al Khalidi, and demanded the release of gunnies in Saudi prisons. He threatened in a call to the Saudi embassy in Sanaa to kill the diplomat unless his demands were met. Sheikh Tareq Al Fadli, a tribal head in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirateafter seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and a prominent leader of Yemen's southern separatist movement, said he had been mediating with the kidnappers for Khaladi's release. "Things are going well... The man is fine, he is in good health," Fadli told Rooters, adding that he would be released "within the coming hours". Khalidi, the Saudi deputy consul in Aden, was seized outside his residence on March 28. A Saudi front man said the al Qaeda caller had been identified as Mishaal Al Shodoukhi, who was named on a list of runaway Al Qaeda gunnies by Saudi authorities in 2009. Shodoukhi said his group would "prepare the knives" unless their demands were met, an official Saudi front man said, and threatened further attacks, including an embassy bombing and the liquidation of a Saudi prince. Riyadh, which has substantial influence among Yemeni tribes, rejected any negotiations with Al Qaeda for the release of Khalidi and vowed to do all it could to free him. |
| Posted by:Fred |