Yemeni security forces have arrested a prominent al-Qaeda member in the south Yemeni mountains, security officials said Thursday.
Abdul Raouf Nasib was one of more than a dozen activists captured Wednesday night in a security force operation in the mountains of Abyan province, located some 292 miles south of the capital Sana'a, the officials said, requesting anonymity.
Nasib was sought by Yemeni police and US officials and is believed to have survived the November 2002 attack by a CIA-operated drone that killed al-Qaeda's top agent in Yemen, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, said the officials. At the time of the attack, Yemeni officials did not say that any al-Qaeda operatives had survived.
Nasib allegedly planned the breakout of 10 operatives who escaped from an Aden prison in April 2003, the officials added. They had been detained in connection with the suicide attack of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000, which killed 17 US sailors. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
