Yemen: tens arrested to be suspected of having links with Bin Laden

A Yemeni security source said on Thursday that tens of Yemenis who are suspected to have links with Usama Bin Laden, the main suspect in the explosions which targeted New York and Washington, were arrested recently in Yemen.

The source which asked not to be identified said that the " security departments have arrested during the past four days tens of Yemenis accused of having links with Usama Bin laden among the Afghani Arabs in Sanaa, Aden and Abyan." Sources in the Yemeni opposition said that the government has recently carried out a vast campaign of arrest against the Afghani Arabs who had earlier went to Afghanistan for Jihad against the Soviet presence more than 15 years ago.

The same sources stressed that the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave his directives to the security forces to follow up the " persons" who were in Afghanistan and took part in the Jihad against the former Soviet Union as well as to arrest them as a " preventive" measure required by the effect of the terrorist acts against key infrastructure positions in the US on September 11.

The same sources explained that the US administration has several choices to repel the attacks launched against the US and this will be in co-ordination with Israel to carry out vast assassination operations targeting military and religious figures in several Arab states including Yemen as well as Sudan, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Worthy mentioning that several religious figures in Yemen took part in the Afghani war against the former Soviet Union in the 1980 s and the Yemeni security forces arrested many of them under links to incidents took place in Yemen the last of which is the suicide attack against the US warship "USS Cole" in October 2000 while it was anchoring at Aden port to be supplied with oil.