US closes embassy in Yemen in wake of al-Qaida killing

THE US Embassy in Yemen was closed for security reasons yesterday and protection of the building was increased after revelations that a US Hellfire missile fired from a CIA plane killed a senior member of the al-Qaida terror network.

The CIA involvement could create a backlash in a country where Islamic militants have operated freely and most oppose US policies toward Iraq and the perceived American bias toward Israel in the conflict with the Palestinians.

Embassy officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the diplomatic mission was closed for security reasons and the Yemeni government had been asked to upgrade security.

One official would not say whether the embassy had received any specific threats.

Yemeni security officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said patrols around the embassy were

increased and the number of intelligence agents in the area was increased.

On Sunday, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi was killed, along with five other al-Qaida members, in the northern province of Marib.

A US official said that al-Harethi’s car was struck by a Hellfire air-to-ground missile launched from a pilotless Predator aircraft. Al-Harethi had been sought over the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, which killed 17 US sailors. He was believed to have been Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant in this country. Yemen’s co-operation with the US in the war against terrorism is a sensitive issue in the Arab country. Al-Qaida is active there and it is the ancestral homeland of bin Laden. Yemeni officials said that they had been working closely with the Americans and that Yemeni intelligence began monitoring al-Harethi’s movements as soon as his car left his farm in Marib on the day of the attack.