Qaeda members arrested following last Thursday's Yemeni military strikes in the country's southern provinces are on the Saudi Ministry of Interior list of 85 wanted, the Governor of Sana'a has said. Speaking by telephone on Wednesday, Governor Nu'man Duweid said that the number of detained and their identities was currently a “security matter” but that details would be revealed by the Yemeni Ministry of Interior once investigations were complete. Duweid did reveal, however, that among those arrested were some “of a young age.” “They were found in possession of final testaments seeking entrance into Heaven, and other papers urging them to follow those who went before them,” Duweid said. Duweid denied that three Al-Qaeda leaders reported by various media sources as remaining holed up in a building in Abyan had fled following the military strikes. “They have not fled and they might not have been there in the first place when the security operation targeting the site began,” Duweid said. “Everyone at the site was captured and others were also captured, the details of which will be made known soon.” Reports had stated that three Al-Qaeda members from the list of 85 had escaped from the site, allegedly the Yemenis Qasim Al-Raimi and Mujalli Hazam, and a third of Arab nationality.No country According to Governor Duweid, investigators are looking into any possible connections between those arrested during operations and Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. “Al-Qaeda has no identity and no country, regardless of whether they are Saudis or Yemenis, as they target the security and stability of their countries and the stability of the entire Ummah,” Duweid said. Al-Qahtani killed? Other Yemeni government sources said, meanwhile, that one possible victim from among the Al-Qaeda dead following operations in the province of Abyan is the Saudi national Abdul Mun'im Al-Qahtani. The sources described Al-Qahtani as a “dangerous leader of the terrorist organization, killed with another Saudi in the village of Lawdar in Abyan.” Yemen continues Al-Qaeda strikes The Yemen Air Force continued its operations against Al-Qaeda on Tuesday with a series of air strikes on sites in the Rafadh region of Yemen, local sources told Okaz. The strikes on the area, which lies between Shabwa and Abyan, occurred at approximately 2 PM and involved large security force movements into the area only minutes after it was shook by the “huge explosions” from the air bombardment. Rare public appearance The same day unmasked members of Al-Qaeda made a public appearance at a rally in southern Yemen in which they told crowds they sought vengeance against the United States and “all those who stood with it” and that they had “no problem” with Yemeni soldiers.
