Al-Qaida suspect blow himself up

A suspected Yemeni al-Qaida member, believed to be related to one of the September 11 hijackers, blew himself up after being cornered by security forces in a San’a suburb.

Sameer Mohammed Ahmed al-Hada, 25, was trying to flee from Yemen authorities who had staked out his house yesterday in San’a, police said.

Authorities believe al-Hada was a brother-in-law of Khalid al-Midhar, one of the 19 hijackers from the September 11 attacks, and also a brother-in-law of one of the 17 men named by the FBI in an alert warning of a possible terrorist attack, according to a US government source.

Officers approached al-Hada as he left his house, but the suspect ran and tried to throw a grenade that detonated in his hand and killed him instantly, police said.

Al-Hada was the son of Ahmad Mohammad Ali al-Hada, a known al-Qaida operative, according to a US official. However, the suspect’s name does not appear on a US-produced list of Yemenis believed to be suspected al-Qaida members.

Police arrested a man who was sitting in a car outside al-Hada’s house at the time, the officials said. No further details on the arrest were available.

The explosion, which happened near San’a University, came two days after the FBI issued a warning of more terrorist attacks either in the United States or against US interests in Yemen. It identified 17 men believed to be involved in the plans.

The warning identified the possible ringleader as Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Yemeni citizen born in 1979 in Saudi Arabia. A US official said al-Rabeei was believed to have links to al-Qaida but was not believed to have been involved in the attack against the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000 that killed 17 US sailors.

At least two terror suspects believed to be in Yemen, Qaed Salim Sunian al-Harethi, allegedly a top al-Qaida official, and Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, are wanted by the United States for the Cole attack.

Police said that they had learned about al-Hada from his landlord.

According to the police, the rental contract had ended and his landlord asked al-Hada for documents to renew the contract. Al-Hada did not provide the documents and the landlord informed the police.

The police began inquiries and learned he was an active al-Qaida member in Yemen and that he had also been to Afghanistan. They did not specify when he was there.

Neighbours said al-Hada spent most of his time inside his house, rarely had visitors and had claimed to be a San’a University student.

Following yesterday’s explosion, security officers searched al-Hada’s house, seizing two pistols, documents, books, a mobile phone and a piece of paper containing telephone numbers, police said.

Yemeni interior ministry officials said they informed US Embassy staff in San’a of yesterday’s incident. Other police sources said both FBI investigators and Yemeni security officers were studying the documents taken from al-Hada’s house.

Yemen’s government admits there may be al-Qaida suspects in the country, but says the network has no military training camps or any other organised presence.

Yemen, the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula, has committed itself to joining the US war on terrorism. But Yemeni officials say this cannot be done without US training, military assistance and aid.