Be vewwy, vewwy quiet!
Yemeni security forces are pursuing a second top al-Qaida figure after capturing the alleged mastermind of the terror network’s most dramatic attacks in Yemen, the bombings of the destroyer USS Cole and a French oil tanker, government officials said Wednesday. Abu Ali al-Kandahari is one of two top al-Qaida leaders in Yemen, according to security reports published in the Yemeni press. The other, Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, was arrested by security forces that surrounded his hide-out west of the capital, San’a, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. Four men, believed to be al-Ahdal’s guards, were also arrested.
"Stick 'em up, youse guys!"
"Don't shoot!"
"What're youse doin' here?"
"Garden."
"Ain't that s'pposed to be 'guarding'?"
"It is?"
"One o' youse guys stop Mohamad! He's trying to... Never mind. He'd just trying to cut his wrists." |
Al-Kandahari is believed to be hiding in the northern provinces of Marib and Jawf, and security forces are closing in on him, said officials. He is reported to have replaced Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi after he was killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone last year. Al-Harethi was thought to have been Osama bin Laden’s top deputy in Yemen.
Saudi-born al-Ahdal, 32, has been described as the main coordinator of al-Qaida activities in Yemen, supervising the terror group’s finances, weapons smuggling and operational planning and was well-connected to other extremists in Persian Gulf countries, the official said.
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