A suspected al Qaeda terrorist wanted in connection with the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole blew himself up with a grenade late Wednesday as Yemeni security forces closed in on him in Yemen's capital city, security sources said.
Authorities had gone to a suspected al Qaeda hideout, a house in a poor section of Sana'a's downtown, and a firefight ensued. The suspect jumped into a taxi, and as authorities tried to stop the vehicle, the man pulled out a grenade and was apparently trying to throw it when it exploded in his hand, sources said.
A police statement identified the suspect as Sameer Mohammed al-Hada, a 25-year-old Yemen native. He was one of the most important people on a list of wanted al Qaeda suspects that the United States had given to Yemeni officials, sources said.
Al-Hada was wanted in connection with the bombing of the Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded 39. Yemeni security sources said al-Hada had trained in Afghanistan.
Security sources said al-Hada's family extensive ties to terrorism. One of al-Hada's sisters was married to one of the suspected September 11 hijackers who piloted an American Airlines jet into the Pentagon. His other sister, they said, is married to Mustafa Abdulkader Aabed al-Ansari, a Yemen native whose name showed up on an FBI terrorist alert late Monday.
In that alert, the FBI warned law enforcement agencies and the public to be on the lookout for 18 suspected al Qaeda operatives, most from Yemen, who are planning an attack against U.S. interests. Al-Hada's name was not on the terror alert.
In addition, one U.S. official said, al-Hada "was also the son of a man believed to be prominent in Al Qaeda."
Yemen cracks down on al Qaeda
The relationship between the United States and Yemen occasionally became strained in the months following the Cole bombing, with cultural differences hindering cooperation between the two countries.
That changed following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, visited Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih this week, and President Bush called Salih on Monday, thanking him for his country's cooperation in the fight against terror.
One U.S. official said Yemen had "one of the most significant" al Qaeda organizational links in the world. Thousands of veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war live in Yemen and are capable of launching "uncoordinated or coordinated attacks," diplomatic sources told CNN in October.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border.
In regards to talking with him, he believes that the U.S. should not end overseas military operations. He says, “We have been sending our troops overseas for war and to defend our country for years and years, and have sacrificed our lives to make sure Americans get the freedom and safety that they deserve, so why end this now? Why end overseas military operations, when there have been so many citizens dying for our freedom? They would have died for nothing if we ended this now.” The U.S. has prevented so many wars from taking place due to these operations.
The Oklahoma City Bombing was a domestic terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 19, 1995. It was led by Timothy McVeigh, an Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War. The explosive was a homemade bomb which was built by McVeigh and the help of Terry Nichols; the bomb consisted of a deadly cocktail and was put inside a rented Ryder truck in front of the Murrah Federal Building. McVeigh then proceeded out of the truck and headed towards his getaway car a few blocks away. He then started the detonation of the timed bomb at exactly 9:02 A.M. then the bomb exploded.
The United States was well conscious of this group, and took the threat seriously. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack. “ By the time Khalid presented his ideas to the Al Qaeda leadership for what would ultimately become the 9/11 operation (known within Al Qaeda as the “planes operation”), and prior to his membership of the organization, he had already demonstrated a keen interest in the use of aircraft for terrorist attacks.” Al Qaeda wanted a way to inflict mass casualties, and using aircraft was the answer. They also knew that they could exploit the weakness of airline security. Khalid used open source intelligence resources to compiled data from various Western aviation magazines, telephone directories for U.S. cities, airline timetables, and conducted Internet searches on U.S. flight schools, flight simulator software and information gleaned from movies depicting hijackings. He also wanted to understand the western culture better as well, that way his operatives could better blend in with the
On an ordinary day, October 12, 2000, in the port of Aden, Yemen, a small boat pulled aside the USS Cole. The unimportant boat looked unthreatening until a suicide attack occurred. The bombing was devastating, leaving a gigantic hole in the ship, killing 17 American sailors and injuring 39. The attackers were known enemies from Al- Qaeda, which had committed attacks against other countries. The attack on the USS Cole was one of the events that triggered the war on terror, which is still going on today. The U.S. had not concerned itself with Al-Qaeda until this vicious attack. The attack on the USS Cole began a war between terrorists and the U.S; the U.S now knows how dangerous Al-Qaeda is especially after the attack of 9/11. The Cole attack woke the United States and made it aware of Al-Qaeda as a real threat.
The two victims said that they were not involved in terrorist groups, but during the investigation they had visited some Al- Qaeda websites to plan out the bombing. Al- Qaeda is an Islamist group that was found by Osama bin Laden in the 1980s. Al- Qaeda is the same group that did the terroist attacks on September 11, 2001. Al- Qaeda means "the base". In 2010, the Al- Qaeda's magazine had a step by step to make a pressure cooker bomb. The brothers were planning to do some of the same acts in New York City.
The most infamous leader of the Al Qaeda is Osama bin Laden of Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden did not derive his theories, practices, or views because he was educated or raised through the teachings of Islamic seminaries, though his principal inspiration appears to be based upon far-reaching religious sentiment. His higher education was actually the study of engineering at a prominent university in Saudi Arabia (Schweitzer and Shay, 2003). Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian, was a highly regarded mentor and the primary source of persuasion for Bin Laden’s ideology and fundamental vision. Azzam was the main architect behind jihad views and is credited as the founder of Al Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden also shaped his outlook from the works and actions of zealous Islamic philosophers from all over the middle-eastern region of the world that opposed Soviet occupation (...
Events that capture the entire world’s attention are few and far between. Fighting wars normally occurs between acknowledged enemies. In the war against terrorism, most notably, the war against Al-Qaeda, the enemy is unknown. One is not the enemy of the United States of America by virtue of one’s ethnic heritage. A Muslim is not a hidden enemy simply because he is Muslim. A Muslim does however become the enemy when he targets the world as a member of Al-Qaeda, the vision of one man. He was an intelligent and educated man who came from wealth and high esteem, who, guided by his faith, through radicalization, exile from homeland, and anti-western sentiments, built the terrorist organization known as Al- Qaeda. His name was Osama bin Laden.
Osama Bin Laden had not only been responsible for one of the biggest attacks in American history but also for so many more all around the world. For instance, in 1992, the first attack by Al-Qaeda was carried out as a bombing at the old Mohur hotel in Aden, Yemen, where U.S. troops had been staying while on the route to Somalia. They also targeted a second hotel which was the Aden Movenpick for the same purposes. They followed through by pa...
The article “Officials: Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria” is about how Al Qaeda is encouraging fighters in Syria to prepare them in the case that they will return home to carry out attacks. They are prepared to send the fighters home by train. There...
Yahya al-Houthi, brother of rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi stated, “We are not anti-American per se. Rest assured that we do not have any issues with the American people, but we disapprove of some of their government’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Like many people in the Middle East of all faiths, we were opposed to the US led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent killing of civilians” (Novack, 2009). The Houthis’ goals in their revolution are inherently religious, not political, focused mainly on combating the rising Salafi presence in the Northern Province of Yemen. The conflict has been ongoing since the 1990s and continues to threaten the stability of Yemen, causing periods of extremely violent clashes with the government. The Houthis are not trying to secede from Yemen. They are not at war with the American people, they are pushing back against western policy in Yemen, while also fighting for their religious beliefs to be recognized. The Houthis maintain that their goal is not to secede or overthrow the country; however, they are destabilizing the Yemeni government by stretching it thin, and forcing Yemen to fight multiple problems across the country. If left unresolved, the current state of the Houthi movement will destabilize Yemen and potentially draw in more support from other countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, which could evolve into a deadly conflict if a peaceful resolution cannot not be reached.
Al Qaeda is leading by Osama bin laden that was born and grown up in Saudi Arabia; his family was very rich and respected by Saudi Royal household and the public. When he finished his University in Saudi Arabia, he becomes an extreme religious person. Osama started to help Islamist movement against communist in Yemen (Gunaratna, 2005) . In December 1997 when Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan he went to Pakistan and then Afghanistan to help Afghan group to protect it from Soviet Union. At the time a Palestinian Jordanian, Dr Abdullah Azzam esta...
...on, the decay of the Country’s political infrastructure, and the growing support of terrorist organizations in the region, are all systematic results of the effects of poverty. In conclusion Yemen must combat its health problem with both preemptive and reactive measures. Yemen must find common ground amongst its various political factions and unify politically to develop a truly governing nation. Yemen must also irradiate all terrorist factions in the region in order to prevent future recruitment into terrorist organizations. These measures are necessary to ensure that the effects of poverty on the people of Yemen are mitigated and minimal. This can only be achieved through the continuation of outside financial, medical, and political assistance from its neighboring countries in the region as well as the support of counter-terrorist organizations worldwide.
Al Qaeda, or Al Qaida, is a global militant Islamist organization. It was agreed upon as a terrorist organization by almost every nation such as the United States, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty), the European Union, United Kingdom, United Nations, India, and many more countries. Al Qaeda is a organization or network comprising of both a stateless and ruthless army with a radical Sunni Muslim movement that has a strict interpretation of Sharia Law, moral law, and their main goal is to achieve global Jihad, the religious duties of all Muslims.