WASHINGTON — Teams of U.S. anti-terrorism and security experts headed for Yemen to help search for suspects in the mail-bomb plot and to train cargo screeners at the Sana airport.
A U.S. Transportation Security Administration unit will provide new screening equipment and assist with cargo leaving Yemen, TSA administrator John Pistole said Monday.
The national-security focus is also moving on how to strike back at the al-Qaeda offshoot suspected of shipping explosives-laden cargo to the U.S. The new incident presents an opportunity for the White House to persuade Yemen to widen its war on terror by allowing the Americans a more active role.
A leading al-Qaeda militant in Yemen who surrendered to Saudi Arabia provided the information that helped thwart the mail-bomb plot, Yemeni security officials said Monday.
The officials said Jabir al-Fayfi, a Saudi militant who had joined al-Qaeda in Yemen but handed himself over in late September, told Saudi officials about the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Al-Fayfi, who is in his mid-30s, had been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He was held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until early 2007, when he was released to Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni security officials said they suspect that the Saudis planted al-Fayfi in al-Qaeda in Yemen as a double agent.
Saudi security officials could not be reached for comment.
Denver Post wire services
