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March 05, 2006
Al-Quada Suspects Trail In Yemen
Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen admit training Iraq fighters
Yemen Observer
By Observer Staff
Mar 4, 2006
SANA'A - Two of 17 Al-Qaeda suspects on trial for planning attacks in Yemen admitted last week to having trained foreign fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan and that their war was with Americans not Yemenis.The 14 Yemenis and three Saudis, who include veterans of the insurgency in Iraq, went on trial on February 22 on charges of planning attacks against US expatriates in Yemen and those who deal with them on the orders of Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"Our war is with the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, not in Yemen," Yemeni suspect Ali Abdullah Osyan, 28, told the judge during an appearance in a Sana'a court, AFP reported. He and the other suspects all wore blue prison jumpsuits and spoke from behind bars.
Prosecutor Saed al-Aqil exhibited in court as evidence weapons, explosives and remote detonation devices allegedly seized by authorities when the suspects were arrested in early 2005 in Sana'a and the southern port city of Aden, Saba news said.
"We used them for jihad (holy fight) in Iraq," said another Yemeni, Ammar Abdullah Fadel, 28, sporting a long thick beard.
"I trained young fighters how to use them to resist Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan."The trial was adjourned until March 11. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, Yemen has worked with Washington to clamp down on suspected Al-Qaeda militants.
Al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers in the country are blamed for bombing the American destroyer USS Cole in 2000, killing 17 US sailors, and attacking the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002, killing one Bulgarian.
Yemen's efforts were dealt a serious blow with the escape of 23 Al-Qaeda suspects from a jail in Sanaa in early February, prompting some US lawmakers to charge that Yemeni authorities may have even facilitated the jail break.President Ali Abdullah Saleh said three of the escapees had surrendered, according to remarks published Sunday in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.
Posted by Wild Thing at March 5, 2006 01:49 AM
