SANAA, 25 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia yesterday extradited to Yemen nine fugitives, including two believed to have links to last year’s attack on a French supertanker off Yemen, Saudi and Yemeni security sources said.
A Saudi Interior Ministry source was quoted by the Saudi Press Agency as saying that “nine Yemeni nationals detained in the Kingdom on security charges were handed over to the Yemeni security forces on Wednesday.”
Yemeni police have also arrested two militants, including one who belongs to a group that has been linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network, Yemeni authorities said yesterday. Authorities believe Aden-Abyan has links to Al-Qaeda as well as the attack on the USS Cole. The two men were arrested in Abyan province, 470 kilometers (294 miles) south of Sanaa.
The suspects extradited yesterday apparently fled to the Kingdom after an explosives-laden boat rammed the French tanker at the Ad-Dhabba oil exporting terminal in the Yemeni port of Al-Shihr, some 900 kilometers southeast of the capital Sanaa.
One Bulgarian crew member was killed and 12 others injured in the attack, in which a remote control was used to detonate the boat.
The attack took place two years after the bombing of the US destroyer USS Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden, which killed 17 US sailors.
Last week, Sanaa extradited to Riyadh eight Saudi nationals wanted by the Kingdom on criminal and terrorist charges. Among the eight was Bandar ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, who is believed to belong to a group that planned the May 12 terror acts in Riyadh.
