SANAA, 12 March 2004 — Saudi and Yemeni authorities are preparing to exchange more men wanted in connection with terrorist and criminal activities in both countries, Yemeni official sources said yesterday.
Yemen’s Defence Ministry newspaper, 26 September, reported that arrangements by security authorities in both countries were under way to exchange the suspects next week.
The men to be extradited to Riyadh are all Saudis who had fled to Yemeni territory, the paper said. No further details were given.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have swapped several suspects wanted on terror and criminal charges.
Last September, the Kingdom extradited nine fugitives to Yemen, including two believed to be linked to the October 2002 attack on a French supertanker off the Yemeni coast.
Sanaa handed over eight Saudi nationals to Riyadh in the same month. Among the eight was Bandar ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, who is believed to be a member of the group that planned the terror attacks in Riyadh.
Separately, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal is scheduled to begin a visit to Sanaa on March 20 for talks with Yemeni officials over the Arab summit scheduled for March 29-30 in Tunisia.
According to official sources in Sanaa, Prince Saud will discuss the ongoing preparations for holding the Arab summit and initiatives for overhauling the Arab League.
The visit also aims to recruit support for the Saudi initiative on Middle East peace that was originally offered by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, in 2002.
The initiative, which is expected to be submitted at the Tunisia summit, proposes that Arab states normalize relations with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories occupied after June 1967.
Arrests in Makkah
Authorities, meanwhile, arrested two suspected terrorists in the Al-Sharaeh district of Makkah.
A security source told Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper that the authorities were investigating those detained for links to terrorism.
The source said the arrests were made as security authorities have been following up names of people involved in clashes between police and a group of terrorists in Makkah last November when police were able to abort a terrorist operation.
Two terrorists were killed during the raid in November, in which a security man was injured and a large number of weapons and explosives were seized.
The Kingdom has stepped up its battle against terrorism in the aftermath of last year’s attacks on residential compounds in Riyadh which claimed more than 50 lives.
Al-Riyadh daily said yesterday that unidentified men had staged an armed attack on Wednesday on a police director in Al-Eflah, south of Riyadh.
The paper said the assailants had opened fire on Lt. Col. Mashaan Al-Mutairi injuring his right leg.
