Yemen asks Washington to hand back al-Nashiri

The Yemeni "September 26th " paper, mouthpiece of the Yemeni ministry of the interior, said yesterday that Yemen asked the US formally to hand Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri who was detained later and Washington stressed he is the responsible for the Gulf region in al-Qaida organization.

The paper said that Yemen has officially asked the US to hand over the Yemeni citizen Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri ( Muhammad Omar l-Harazzi), one of the main convicted persons in the case of the attack against the US warship "USS Cole," who was recently arrested by the American forces in Afghanistan.

Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri is considered the main coordinator for the blowing off operation against the US warship Cole in the coasts of Aden in October 2000 which resulted in killing 17 American marines and wounding other 39.

The American authorities which recently announced the arrest of Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri without defining the place where he was arrested said, he is a Saudi citizen.