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February 6, 2006
Yemen: Jail Break Of 23 Islamists, Including USS Cole's Bombers
News from the Independent, from UPI via World Peace Herald and AP via WTOP.com relates that 23 prisoners have escaped from a jail in Yemen. Among them are Al Qaeda operatives believed to have been behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. The mastermind of the operation is Jamal al-Badawi (pictured), who also was in the group which tunneled its way out of prison last week.
The attack on the USS Cole, using an explosives-filled boat, cost the lives of 17 US servicemen on Oct 12, 2002, as it was undergoing a refueling in the port of Aden, southern Yemen.
Interpol released an international security alert, or "orange notice" on Sunday, saying that at least 13 of those who escaped are Al Qaeda members.
Jamal al-Badawi was sentenced to death for his part in the attack in September 2004.
The prisoners had constructed a 140 yard tunnel, with the help of "co-conspirators outside", the Interpol report stated. Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee was named in the report as another jail-breaker, who is thought to have made an attack on a French tanker, the Limburg, in 2002. In this attack, a Bulgarian crewman was killed, and the Limbourg spilled 90.000 barrels of oil into the sea off the Yemeni coast.
A month after the Limburg attack, Al-Rabeiee was convicted of attacking a US oil company helicopter and setting off explosives at a civil aviation authority building.
The escape happened a day before a trial of 15 individuals for terrorist offences, including Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, suspected of involvement with the USS Cole and Limburg attacks.
18 of those who escaped have been convicted already, stated an official Yemeni statement.
There are suspicions that the Yemeni authorities may have colluded with, or turned a blind eye to the escape, to avoid handing individuals over to the United States.
The head of the opposition Nasserite Movement, Mohammed Sabry, has suggested the escape happened because the security agencies are weak. "This incident harmed Yemen's reputation and placed it in an embarrassing situation before the international community, especially that the escapees were involved in the attacks on Limburg and USS Cole," he said.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 6, 2006 10:02 PM
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