AL-NAQAA, Yemen, 5 November — Six suspected Al-Qaeda members, one of whom was wanted by the FBI in the United States, were killed when the vehicle in which they were traveling exploded in eastern Yemen, the Interior Ministry said as witnesses talked of a missile strike. Witnesses told reporters the explosion, which happened Sunday afternoon in the desert region of Al-Naqaa in Marib province, 200 kilometers east of Sanaa, was caused by two missiles fired from an army helicopter.
The black off-road vehicle was torn open by the missiles then machine-gunned by the helicopter, the witnesses said. What was left of the vehicle was taken away to Marib town early yesterday, but strips of flesh, magazines and a satellite mobile telephone could still be seen lying around in the sand in mid-afternoon.
A Yemeni Interior Ministry spokesman said earlier in the day that security services were “continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident and determine the identities of the car’s occupants.” “The six people who were in the car and who were suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda were killed in the explosion,” the spokesman said.
“According to first indications, Ali Qaed Sunian Al-Harithi (Abu Ali), who was sought by security services for taking part in acts of sabotage, was among the six killed,” he said.
The spokesman said “traces of explosives were found in the car as well as ammunition, weapons and communication devices.” Harithi and fellow Yemeni Mohammad Hamdi Al-Ahdal (Abu Assem) were identified by Yemen’s Defense Ministry last year as belonging to Al-Qaeda.
Wanted by the FBI for his alleged links to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror network, Harithi had been tracked by security forces since December. According to witnesses, Ahdal was also in the vehicle but that could not be officially confirmed.
“Harithi was one of Osama Bin Laden’s companions when he was in Sudan before 1994,” the online edition of Al-Sahwa newspaper, mouthpiece of the Yemeni Islamist party Al-Islah said, confirming the deaths.
Authorities have been hunting down other suspected militants believed to be sheltering in the rugged mountains between Sanaa and Marib, a stronghold for disgruntled tribesmen who have often kidnapped tourists and foreigners in Yemen in recent years. The Saba news agency said police arrested two people suspected of a separate attack on Sunday on a helicopter belonging to Hunt Oil, a US firm operating in Yemen. One person was slightly injured when gunmen fired at the helicopter after it took off from Sanaa for Marib.
Yemen is the ancestral home of Bin Laden and US officials have voiced concern the Arabian Peninsula country has become a safe haven for fighters on the run belonging to his Al-Qaeda terror network. In the wake of the anti-US terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Sanaa launched, at Washington’s behest, a crackdown on suspected Al-Qaeda members. (AFP/R)
