Yemen air strike kill 11 militants: residents

ADEN: At least 11 al Qaeda militants, including a number of local leaders, were killed in an overnight air strike in southern Yemen, local residents said on Tuesday.

They said an unidentified drone attacked the militants while they were travelling in two vehicles east of the city of Lawdar in Abyan province in southern Yemen.

A tribal leader said at least four of those killed were local al Qaeda leaders. Residents said no civilians were hurt in the air strike.

The United States has used drones repeatedly to attack al Qaeda militants in Yemen. Last September, a U.S. drone killed U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, described by U.S. officials as “chief of external operations” for al Qaeda in Yemen.

The latest attack could deal a blow to al Qaeda which has exploited unrest and protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh to strengthen its hold on remote areas in southern Yemen in recent months.

An opposition-led government has been set up in Yemen after Saleh agreed in November to transfer authority to his deputy ahead of presidential elections in February.

But protests have continued and activists are pressing on with demands that Saleh be tried for alleged killings of demonstrators and that the government is purged of members of his family. AGENCIES

FBI releases picture of 9/11 anniversary terror suspect

As the world remembers 9/11 on its anniversary, Jude’s picture has been posted on the FBI’s most-wanted list. New York went into security lockdown with all suspicious vehicles being searched by police.

 The FBI said Jude is wanted for “conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons in a foreign country”.

Jude is feared to be behind a “credible” al-Qaeda threat to set off a bomb in a vehicle on a bridge or in a tunnel in New York or Washington.
Born in Florida, he dropped out of North Carolina’s Fuquay-Varina High School in 2006 and left the US two years later to visit Pakistan, his father’s home country.

A jury in North Carolina indicted him and seven other men in 2009 on charges that they conspired to carry out terrorist acts around the world.
It is believed Jude then went into hiding.

Police said information about the bomb plot came from a trusted source in Pakistan who “has never been wrong”.

The source said the men had been personally recruited by Osama bin Laden’s successor as Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has vowed to avenge the terror lord’s death.

It is feared Jude and another American citizen of Arab descent left Afghanistan and travelled through Dubai to reach the US as recently as last week.
Detectives consider that Jude – who has no past terror record – is adept at blending into normal society.

He is thought to be part of a cell of eight US-based Jihadists, one of whom drove a truck bearing a sticker saying “Support our troops” so as to appear a normal American.

Al Qaeda number two killed in drone attack

 According to reports, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was killed in Pakistan in another big blow to the terrorist group that the US believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday.

The Libyan national who was the network s former operational leader rose to Al Qaeda s No. 2 spot after the US killed Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in May.

As per media report, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that Al Qaeda s defeat was within reach if the US could mount a string of successful attacks on the group s weakened leadership.

Al-Rahman was killed Aug 22 in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, the official disclosed Saturday on condition of anonymity.

The official would not say how al-Rahman was killed. But his death came on the same day that a CIA drone strike was reported in Waziristan.

Al-Rahman, believed to be in his mid-30s, was a close confidant of bin Laden and once served as bin Laden s emissary to Iran. Born in Libya, al-Rahman joined bin Laden as a teenager in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union.

Bin Laden is dead, claims US media

According to British and American media, Bin Laden is killed in a US missile attack. On the other hand, the Afghan and senior US officials have also confirmed that Bin Laden has been killed.

According to defence experts, Bin Laden death will come as a fatal blow to the al Qaeda’s striking capability. US President will address to his nation to explain the facts about the death. The al Qaeda leader’s dead body has also been found, it is claimed.

Turkish police detain 10 al Qaeda suspects: report

ISTANBUL: Turkish police have detained 10 suspected al Qaeda militants who they believe were planning an attack ahead of New Year, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

The agency said the suspects, eight of whom were detained in anti-terror raids in the northwestern city of Bursa on Wednesday, were expected to be brought before a court on Friday.

A further two people were detained in Istanbul and taken to Bursa, the agency said. Bursa police said in a statement that eight suspects linked to a terror group had been detained.

Turkish police often arrest suspected Islamist militants and describe them as having links to al Qaeda, though details seldom emerge. Around 120 al Qaeda suspects were rounded up last January in raids mostly carried out in the southeast.

In October, police held five male students suspected of providing support to al Qaeda

2 white Britons ‘killed fighting for Al Qaeda’ in US drone strike

Two British men who were fighting alongside Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan have been killed in a drone attack, it was learnt.

The two men are believed to have been white converts to Al Qaeda who changed their British names to Islamic ones after becoming radicalized. They died five days ago when a Hellfire missile was fired from a remote controlled American drone in the town of Datta Khel.The reports are confirmed, the two men would be the first white British converts to have been killed in the area.The militants were aged 48 and 25 and had been using the pseudonyms Abu Bakr and Mansoor Ahmed. It is believed one of the men was originally called Steve. They were in a vehicle with two other fighters when they were hit by the missile. It is not known whether they were crossing the border into Afghanistan. Details of their deaths are slowly emerging following the missile strike on the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders.It was reported that the pair had entered the area last year and had travelled to north Waziristan in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan to join Al Qaeda.The Americans believe that there are around 2,000 militants in the area.

These are the ones that are targeted by drone attacks because they are deemed the most dangerous.A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are aware of media reports of the death of two British nationals in Pakistan.Our High Commission in Pakistan is seeking further information on these reports.

In September another British militant called Abdul Jabber, who was from Birmingham and of Asian descent, died in a drone attack in the same area.

Al-Qaeda wants to avenge Aafias trial

Al Qaeda reiterated its resolve to avenge Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was sentenced by the United States to 86 years in jail for trying to kill US personnel in Afghanistan.

In a video published by US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence Group, Abu Yahya al-Libi called upon Pakistanis to strike American aircraft, centers, and convoys in revenge for the imprisonment of Siddiqui. By Allah, a single shot to the face of those unbeliever aggressors is tougher on them and has a greater effect on their persons than hundreds of demonstrations and thousands of screams, no matter if the throats of the protests become hoarse, he said. Last month, al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri also called for vengeance, and there have been numerous demonstrations in Pakistan calling for the liberation of Siddiqui, 38. Shortly after she was arrested in Afghanistan in 2008 on charges of links to al Qaeda, she was visited by US military officers and agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. She seized a gun and fired two shots, without hitting anyone. One of the officers returned fire, wounding her in the stomach.

US may boost Yemen training after bomb plot: Gates

MELBOURNE: The U.S. military may boost training of Yemeni forces as a way to put more pressure on al Qaeda following last month’s failed parcel bomb plot, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing last week claimed responsibility for two U.S.-bound parcel bombs, which were intercepted and neutralized in Dubai and Britain after a tip from Saudi Arabia.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has previously taken credit for a failed attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner last Christmas.

“I think in terms of training and so on there are more things we could do to help the Yemenis and strengthen their capabilities,” Gates said, speaking to reporters shortly before landing in Australia for bilateral talks.

“And I think it’s fair to say that we’re exploring with them a variety of possibilities along those

Turkey detains 12 suspected of aiding al Qaeda: official

ISTANBUL: Turkish police have detained 12 people in Istanbul suspected of providing support to al Qaeda militants fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan, a senior security official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The detentions come just days after four men were arrested in west and southwest Turkey on suspicion of fundraising for militants and a fifth on suspicion of designing computer programmes to jam the controls of drone aircraft.

Istanbul police declined to comment.

Turkish police often arrest suspected Islamist militants and describe them as having links to al Qaeda, though details seldom emerge. Around 120 al Qaeda suspects were rounded up last

January in raids mostly carried out in the southeast.

Of the five arrested last week the four suspected of fundraising have since been released pending trial.

The number of Turks fighting in

Bin Laden, Zawahiri hiding in Pakistan: report

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are believed to be hiding near each other in relative comfort in northwest Pakistan, a senior NATO official told CNN on Monday.

The two men are believed to be living in homes near one another and are protected by members of Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, and locals, the network reported. Pakistan strongly denies protecting members of the terror network.

“Nobody in Al Qaeda is living in a cave,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

Bin Laden is believed to have escaped from Afghanistan’s Tora Bora region, a Taliban stronghold, during a U.S. bombing raid in 2001 and has moved around Pakistan since.

The official told CNN the Al Qaeda leader is likely to have traveled in recent years throughout the country’s rugged tribal region from near the Chinese border to neighboring

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