SANA, Yemen — Yemeni forces Wednesday raided an al-Qaeda hide-out and set off a gun battle as the government vowed to eliminate the group that claimed it was behind the Christmas bombing attempt on a U.S. airliner.
The fighting took place in an al-Qaeda stronghold in western Yemen, a haven for a group that attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sana in 2008, killing 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians. A government statement said at least one suspected militant was arrested during the clashes.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s group, claimed it was behind the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old passenger, was arrested Friday after he allegedly tried to bring down a flight carrying 289 people.
U.S. investigators said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
Yemen’s government has said Abdulmutallab spent two periods in the country, from 2004 to 2005 and from August to December of this year, just before the attempted attack.
Abdulmutallab’s Yemen connection has drawn attention to al-Qaeda’s growing presence in the impoverished and lawless country. Before Wednesday’s clashes, Yemeni forces backed by U.S. intelligence carried out two major strikes against al-Qaeda hide-outs this month, reportedly killing more than 60 militants.
Execution “amateurish”
In Holland, the Dutch government issued a preliminary report Wednesday calling the airliner plot professional but describing the execution as “amateurish.” Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told a news conference that Abdulmutallab apparently assembled the explosive device in the aircraft toilet, then planned to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. She said the explosives appeared to have been professionally prepared and then given to Abdulmutallab.
President Barack Obama has demanded a preliminary report by today on what went wrong in the Detroit case. Obama said the intelligence community should have been able to piece together information that would have raised “red flags” and possibly prevented Abdulmutallab from boarding the airliner.
Abdulmutallab attended a two-week seminar in Houston in August 2008 that was conducted by the AlMaghrib Institute, a Web-based Islamic education center, said Waleed Basyouni, vice president of the institute. The institute is cooperating with authorities, he said.
The Yemeni roots of the attack threaten to complicate U.S. efforts to empty the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, where nearly half the remaining detainees are from Yemen.
Finding a home for them is key to Obama’s pledge to close the prison, but emerging details of the plot are renewing concerns about Yemen’s capacity to contain militants and growing al-Qaeda safe havens.
Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., noted that of the 90 men remaining at Guantanamo, more than 60 have been identified as dangerous by the Pentagon.
“Yet, in the past few weeks, the Obama administration has overseen the repatriation of six Yemenis from Guantanamo back to their home country,” he said. “As we learn more about Abdulmutallab’s ties to Yemen and AQAP, it is increasingly clear that the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo is a flawed process demanding immediate review.”
Abdulmutallab spent about five months in Yemen leading up to the airliner attack and a year before that in 2004-05, Yemeni officials said.
Administrators at the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language said he was enrolled at the school during both periods to study Arabic. But staff and students said he spent at most one month at the school starting in late August. His time through December is unaccounted for.
Those who knew him from 2005 and who saw him in August said he appeared to have become a very different person, more deeply religious, more of a loner, and forsaking Western clothing in favor of a long, white traditional Islamic tunic.
Courteous, “friendly”
When Abdulmutallab spoke, he was courteous. He didn’t publicly express radical thoughts, didn’t lash out against U.S. policies in Iraq or Afghanistan. He didn’t express Muslim grievances such as Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
“He was friendly. He always smiled. We didn’t see an ounce of aggressive behavior,” said Ahmed Mujaeb, a teacher. “I felt sad when I heard what he had done. I asked myself ‘Why?’ This is a big question mark.”
The plot to bomb Northwest Flight 253 has shined an unwanted spotlight on the institute. Since 2001, it has taught Arabic to hundreds of foreign students, including many Americans. It offers one religious course, a basic introduction to Islam to help students learn classical Arabic. Yet students and teachers said they feared the school would be unfairly tainted as a jihadist breeding center.
“My roommates and I are very frustrated,” said Canadian student Matthew Salmon. “This damages the credibility of the school, of Yemen and of Islam itself.”
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
