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A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...travelled to Yemen via Oman in 2011 and had weapons training in the deserts of Marib, an al Qaeda stronghold, two senior Yemeni sources said on Sunday.
This is the first confirmation by Yemeni officials that both Cherif and Said Kouachi, who carried out the bloodiest Islamist attack
on the West in decades, had visited Yemen where al Qaeda's deadliest franchise, AQAP, is based. One Yemeni source had previously confirmed a visit by Said Kouachi.
"These two brothers arrived in Oman on July 25, 2011, and from Oman they were smuggled into Yemen where they stayed for two weeks," a senior Yemeni security official, who declined to be named, said.
"They met (al Qaeda preacher) Anwar al-Awlaki
... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and
UndieboomerUmar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list...
and then they were trained for three days in the deserts of Marib on how to fire a gun. They returned to Oman and they left Oman on Aug. 15, 2011 to go back to La Belle France."
A senior Yemeni intelligence source confirmed the brothers had entered Yemen via Oman in 2011, citing the ease with which they entered while the security forces were focused on the Arab Spring protests that were convulsing the country at the time.
The source also confirmed the brothers had met Awlaki "and trained in Wadi Abida," - which is between Marib and Shabwa provinces where Awlaki was known to move freely.