Yemen Authorities Say Some Militants Captured, Crackdown Link to USS Cole

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Yemen Authorities Say Some Militants Captured in Crackdown Linked to USS Cole Bombing

By Ahmed Al-Haj Associated Press Writer

Published: Mar 9, 2004


SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - Four of 32 militants captured in a crackdown by Yemen's security forces are linked to the October 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors, an official said Tuesday.

The four were among 10 suspects who escaped from prison early last year, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The crackdown in the southern mountains led to the arrests of 32 suspects believed to belong to al-Qaida and other militant groups, including the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army and the Yemeni Islamic Jihad.

Senior al-Qaida agents Abdul Raouf Naseeb and Sayed Imam el-Sharif were among those captured, but the country's most-wanted man - Jamal al-Badawi - apparently slipped away with more than a dozen foreign fighters, witnesses and officials in the region said.

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