SANAA, 9 March 2004 — Six men believed to have links to the October 2000 attack on a US warship off Yemen have surrendered to security forces after a week-long hunt in remote areas in southern Yemen, officials said yesterday.
The officials said the six men gave themselves up on Saturday along with two other suspected militants after government forces cordoned off mountainous militant hideouts in the southern province of Abyan, some 400 kilometers southeast of the capital Sanaa.
“Six suspects in the destroyer bombing were among those who surrendered in Abyan,” a government official told Arab News on condition of anonymity. He added that tribal chieftains helped negotiate with the wanted men to surrender.
He gave no details about the charges against the two other suspects, one of whom is believed to be Abdul Raouf Nassib, a leading Al-Qaeda member.
Anti-terror police squads, backed by army units and military helicopters, scoured the rugged mountains in the last week Abyan hunt. However, provincial officials said an unknown number of militants managed to flee the area.
Meanwhile Saudi border police seized a cache of explosives and weapons which were smuggled on the southern border with Yemen, Al-Riyadh newspaper said. It quoted a Saudi security source as saying that the weapons confiscated included guns, ammunition and explosives. It did not say when the incident took place.
