Sanaa, Nov 29: Police have arrested an al-Qaeda activist who worked with Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, a top figure in the Yemeni branch of the terror network who was himself detained last week, a security official said today.
"Hedi Dalqam, an al-Qaeda activist was arrested at the start of November," the official said describing him as a "colleague" of al-Ahdal.
The interior ministry announced yesterday that Saudi-born al-Ahdal had been caught only on Tuesday.
In Washington, a US officials said al-Ahdal may be implicated in the bomb attack on the USS Cole three years ago which killed 17 American sailors.
The alleged operative, who reportedly lost a leg fighting in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, had not figured on the US FBI's list of wanted terrorists. It is believed al-Ahdal also fought in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
The ministry said security officials had been watching the 32-year-old for several months before surrounding his home west of Sanaa and forcing him to surrender.
Yemeni authorities believe Ahdal was the second-in-command to Ali Qaed Sunian al-Harithi, alias Abu Ali al-Harithi, who was among the six al-Qaeda suspects killed in November 2002 in a missile attack by the US Central Intelligence Agency in the desert region of al-Naqaa in Marib province, east of Sanaa.
Bureau Report
