BBC : American killed in CIA's Yemen attack

American killed in CIA's Yemen attack

November 7, 2002

An American citizen was among the six al Qaeda suspects killed in a car explosion in Yemen over the weekend, according to a Yemeni official.

All the men who died were described by the official as "dangerous".

The six were killed when their car exploded in Marib province east of the capital Sanaa on Sunday.

US officials said the blast was caused by a rocket from an unmanned aircraft operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

One of the dead, Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, also known as Abu Ali, was a major suspect in an attack bombing two years ago on the US warship Cole in a Yemeni port that left 17 US sailors dead.

"Investigations by Yemeni authorities found that Harthi was accompanied by five dangerous members of the al Qaeda network who were not ordinary passengers," the Yemeni official said.

The US national was identified by a government newspaper as Ahmed Hijazi.

Weapons found

Personal documents, weapons and satellite telecommunication devices were said to have been discovered in the ruined car, the official said.

The government September 26 weekly newspaper said the men had participated in "planning and executing acts of sabotage that harmed Yemeni national interests.

"The six were involved in the attack on the USS Cole in Aden harbour in 2000," the paper added.

Washington holds Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network responsible for the attack on the Cole.

Earlier this year, US military trainers went to Yemen to offer advice on tracking down al-Qaeda fighters believed to be in hiding.

Yemen, keen to cast off its image as a haven for Muslim militants, says it has arrested 85 people in its hunt for suspected members of al-Qaeda and other militant groups.