(AKI) - A Yemeni citizen, Abu Basir, has been appointed head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, after members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia decided to increase coordination between terrorist cells in the region, according to a message posted to Islamist websites."We are preparing mujahadeen in training camps and they want to go to Gaza," said Basir in the message, which comes days after Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A former Saudi detainee held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Sufiyan al-Shahri, has been named as Basir's deputy, the message said.
"Our objective is to free Palestine and the attack on Gaza is part of the Zionist crusader campaign against Islam that has been supported against crusaders' bases on the Arabian Peninsula."
More information about the new organisation of the group will be announced soon and a video will be released featuring an interview with its 'emir', Abu Basir, produced by the 'al-Fajr' production house, the message stated.
Yemeni police have found a cache of arms allegedly used by Al-Qaeda in the capital, Sanaa.
According to the site of the Yemeni ministry of the interior, police on Thursday found the arms in an apartment in the Dars district of the capital. In a police blitz conducted earlier this week, police killed two terror suspects and arrested a third suspect while a fourth escaped.