Suspected al-Qaida leader in Yemen escapes raid

[unhappycamper]

Suspected al-Qaida leader in Yemen escapes raid
Dec 19, 7:23 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A military strike on al-Qaida's network in Yemen killed the deputy commander of the terrorist network's cell in Abyan province, the Yemeni government said.

Embassy spokesman Mohammed Albasha identified the dead man as Mohammed Al Kazimi, but said suspected al-Qaida leader Qasim al-Raymi, the intended target of this week's raid, escaped.

Al-Raymi is one of 23 militants who broke out of a prison in San'a in February 2006 and is at large. Yemeni authorities have said they believe he was involved in the July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis visiting a temple in central Yemen.

Christopher Boucek, a Yemen expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said al-Raymi is deputy commander of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and has managed to escape several previous attempts by authorities to get him.

The U.S. provided firepower and other aid to Yemen for the strike this week against suspected al-Qaida hide-outs and training sites within its borders, according to a New York Times report.


Rest of Stripes article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_YEMEN_AL_QAIDA?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Prometheus Bound]

1. Over 60 dead, most civilians including women and children.

"Witnesses put the number killed at over 60 and said the dead were mostly civilians, including women and children. "