Top Qaeda terror suspect surrenders

Algerian officer killed in bomb blast

Yemeni security forces detain 10 al-Qaeda gunmen

Britain launches new anti-terror strategy

Report condemns Israel's phosphorus shell use in Gaza

A Saudi terrorist suspected of recruiting foreign militants for the al-Qaeda network in Iraq surrendered to Saudi authorities, the Saudi News Agency (SPA) reported.

Fahd Rikad Sameer Al-Ruweili, 31, who is also suspected of smuggling weapons to al-Qaeda in Iraq, ranks as number 61 out of a list of 85 most wanted terrorist suspects issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry earlier this month.

He had spent the past six years moving between Iraq to Syria, and first contacted his family from outside Egypt, which then mediated his handover to the authorities, SPA reported.

A spokesman of the Saudi Interior Ministry encouraged other extremists to follow al-Ruweili's example. The ministry's most wanted list of terrorist suspects includes 83 Saudis and two Yemenis.

In a statement, the ministry urged them "to return to their rational senses, end their transgressions and surrender themselves to the nearest Saudi representative, who will facilitate their return home to their families."

It is thought that Al-Ruweili called his family from Iraq, revealing his desire to turn in.

In a telephone conversation with Okaz /Saudi Gazette Al-Turki categorically denied the involvement of a third party in his surrender. His relatives approached the responsible security authorities and coordinated his travel to the Kingdom, he said.

"By the grace of Almighty Allah and the support of the families of the wanted the security authorities are capable of facilitating the return of fugitives to the country to surrender," said the Ministry spokesman. Al-Turki encouraged other extremists to follow Al-Ruweili’s example.

He urged them "to return to their rational senses, end their transgressions and surrender themselves to the nearest Saudi representative, who will facilitate their return home to their families."

According to sources, Al-Ruweili was born in Qatar in March 1977 and was closely linked to the Al-Qaeda. He was a key figure in Al-Qaeda training camps along Syria’s border with Iraq. He provided fighters with weapons and forged travel documents to help them enter Iraq from Syria.

Al-Ruweili left for Jordan on April 4, 2003, and settled in Syria. He was known in Al-Qaeda with the nickname Emir Al-Hedoud "Prince of Borders" as he was operating on the Iraqi-Syrian border. He succeeded in recruiting dozens if not hundreds of the brainwashed youth and masterminding their infiltration into Iraq through the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The ministry’s most wanted list of terrorist suspects includes 83 Saudis and two Yemenis.

In February, a former Guantanamo prisoner, Mohammed Atiq Awayd Al-Awfi, turned himself in to the Yemeni authorities and was flown to Riyadh after his name appeared on the list.

On March 15, Yemen announced that security forces had arrested another of those appearing on the list, Ali Abdullah Al-Harbi, in an operation in Taez, south of the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

In January, the local Al-Qaeda branch announced in an Internet video the merging of the Saudi and Yemeni branches into "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," led by a Yemeni, Nasser Al-Wahaishi.

US military commanders say one of the main conduits for foreign fighters entering Iraq to join forces with the local branch of Al-Qaeda is through Syria.

Five terror suspects wanted in relation with security issues have been handed over to the Kingdom’s authorities from neighboring Yemen, the Ministry of Interior announced.

One of the five - named as Abdullah Abdurrahman Al-Harbi - is listed among the Kingdom’s most 85 wanted persons.

Ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki said that the other four detained were not on the list of 85, but were wanted for their involvement in other security issues.

Al-Turki said that the Yemeni authorities arrested Al-Harbi during a raid on an Al-Qaeda site in the southern city of Taiz.

"Only one (of the five) is on the list. The other four are wanted over other problems," Al-Turki said.

The extradition has taken to three the number of people on the list taken into custody by the Saudis.

Last month former Guantanamo prisoner Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al-Awfi turned himself in to Yemeni authorities and was flown to Riyadh, after his name appeared on the Saudi most-wanted list.

Mohammed Ateeq Al-Awfi al-Harbi, an al-Qaeda leader who was earlier handed over to Saudis after he handed himself in to Yemeni authorities, has said that al-Qaeda in Yemen has links to Iranian intelligence services and Houthi rebels in Saada.

In his confessions aired by the Alarabiya channel, al-Awfi said al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen are run by intelligence apparatuses of capable governments which administer them in the name of Mujahedeen targeting Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

"We receive money from these governments through Mujahedeen," he said, adding Houthis came to us once and offered us money and logistic support and then I, in my capacity as a filed commander of al-Qaeda in Yemen, started to understand that our group is administered by countries…but not youth as we learnt.

We realized there was a delusive administration for us, he went on. He revealed al-Qaeda new plans to attack foreign targets and oil facilities in Yemen and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"Al-Qaeda in Yemen became stronger after we, Saudi al-Qaeda branches, came to the country and merged with those colleagues in Yemen," he said.

"Al-Qaeda in Yemen was not effective but when Saudi al-Qaeda members arrived in the country a real al-Qaeda network started to take shape, he added.

After the merge, we formed a shoura council and named a leader, a deputy leader, a military and media officers."

I led about 250 followers that were organized in military brigades operating according to war plans.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen, which was said recently to have taken shape by the merge of members in Yemen and the kingdom under the name of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with a new leadership declared, chose Nasser al-Wuhaishi as leader and started to implement their strategy disseminating misinformation and carrying out terrorist attacks in the two countries.

They take advantage of strategic mountainous locations at which new members can join the group to fight as gorillas.

Among his confessions, al-Awfi said his surrender came after he differed with the new leadership over expiatory fatwas against people and countries, urging the rest members to come back to the right path and give themselves up to authorities.

On February 17, Yemen extradited al-Awfi to Saudi authorities, twenty days after he had surrendered to Yemeni authorities in Shabwa province.

Earlier, al-Qaeda announced a new leadership for its branches in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen and Saudi Arabia in 2003 inked an extradition deal and vowed to boost coordination and security cooperation to defeat al-Qaeda targeting the two neighbor countries.

"Al-Qaeda’s new strategy consists of hitting oil installations and security buildings in Saudi Arabia, as well as US interests, then retreating to Yemen," said the 35-year-old ex-Jihadist, whose name appeared on a list of 85 alleged terrorists researched by the Saudi authorities, and who performed his mea culpa.

In his "confessions", reproduced in full and widely commented by the local press, Awfi, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, who was subjected to brainwashing in a rehabilitation centre for "stray" repentants in Saudi Arabia, has described at length how he returned to the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, after having hesitated between Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to him, this allegiance, that has divided members of the Saudi-Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda, was finalized after being "ordained" by Ayman Zawahiri, the No. 2 in the parent organization.

Pursued and neutralized in Saudi Arabia after a merciless struggle led by the authorities, Saudi extremists were forced to ally themselves with their Yemeni colleagues. They seem to have found a new lease of life in Yemen whose topography is reminiscent of Afghanistan, and where several regions have de facto eluded state authority, which explains the recent upsurge of attacks in Yemen.

The Saudi Press has been commenting that this new strategy of Al-Qaeda fighters will consist of launching small scale operations from Yemen, then retreating back to their base, without suffering heavy losses, as was the case during the preventive strikes conducted successfully in recent years by the Saudi security forces.

Khaled bin Mansour Al-Dariss, the head of the Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Research Chair for Intellectual Security Studies at King Saud University, was more explicit.

Commenting in Al Hayat on Awfi’s "confessions", Khaled scotched any uncertainty about the intentions of "this country that has declared expansionist ambitions and is seeking to equip itself with nuclear forces that will inevitably serve to exercise its hegemony over the region."

Yet, last September, Zawahiri fiercely criticized Iran and accused Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of participating in the Western "crusade" against Islam, in a video broadcast on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Referring on his part to this "alliance of reason", Youssef Al-Dini, a specialist on Islamist groups, said that "even if they don’t share the same ideological convictions, this country [Iran] and Al-Qaeda can always drop their differences and cooperate in order to realize their (joint) objectives."

"Admittedly, Iran has indirectly supported Al-Qaeda in Iraq against US forces, by providing it arms through businessmen acting as intermediaries", one analyst has indicated to Saudiwave, requesting anonymity.

Al Awfi, who surrendered himself to Saudi authorities last February, made some interesting confessions on Saudi television. These confessions revealed some elements of one of the most important aspects of terrorist operations; funding. They also revealed the aim of Al Qaeda’s media strategy.

Al Awfi’s confessions confirmed many matters that were often mentioned but not verified regarding the role that some Arab and regional countries play in funding Al Qaeda whether in Saudi Arabia or Yemen, close to the Saudi borders.

Moreover, al Awfi’s confessions confirmed that all attempts to refine the speech that he delivered when he fled to Yemen were aimed at striking a blow to the efforts of Saudi authorities, which have succeeded tremendously in the fight against terror and have become an international testimony to the professionalism and efficiency of the Saudi security forces.

Al Awfi’s confessions show that the fundamental aim of the states that fund Al Qaeda was to continue to subject Saudi Arabia to the pressure of the terrorist threat, therefore, one the one hand, making Saudi Arabia appear as if it is a country that lacks stability, and on the other hand to attach, and consolidate, the accusation of terrorism to Saudis.

Al Qaeda has strived for this ever since the 9/11 attacks in America, as it was keen to make most of the hijackers Saudi. Since then, we have been witnessing efforts to attach the accusation of terrorism to Saudi Arabia not by the West inasmuch as we see these efforts being exerted by Iran and its allies in the region.

Of course the Saudis, all Saudis, must always remember that the responsibility of the reputation, security and stability of their country falls primarily on their shoulders regardless of the number of opponents. Therefore, extremism in all its forms must be rejected and tackled from the roots.

And this is what the Saudi leadership adhered to on all levels without showing any leniency; in fact it achieved a number of notable successes. However, dealing with the roots of the ideology remains, which is a matter that the Saudi leadership has always spoken of and which also requires efforts from scholars and intellectuals.

This is with regards to the Saudis. However, on the other hand, some neighboring countries must realize and remember that those who play with the fire of extremism and try to exploit it for their own political disputes, or even political battles, are going to get burnt.

Playing with the fire of extremism is reckless, and history has proved that it always comes back to burn those who play with it. This is what some capital cities witnessed after they found it easy [to ferment trouble] after the collapse of the Iraqi regime. That’s not all; what is yet to come will be more important to them, especially if they are serious about solving important issues such as the peace process etc.

As for the regional countries that are trying to upset Saudi security with the help of the real manipulative triangle in the Arab world, without naming names, their fundamental and final goal will not be Saudi Arabia alone, in spite of the delusions of some parties.

The real goal is to pounce upon the Gulf States and their wealth. This is difficult today as long as Saudi Arabia remains strong and stable, as it presents a real obstacle to those regional ambitions.

Therefore, al Awfi’s confessions must serve as an alarm bell that warns against the threat that Al Qaeda and the Arab and regional countries that support it pose, regardless of the big difference between them and the Al Qaeda organization regarding creed and ideology, as it has become clear that their goal is to target our stability and security.

In Sanaa, Yemeni authorities said they arrested 10 al-Qaeda gunmen in a major offensive in the south of the country and witnesses said four policemen were killed in the fighting.

Clashes erupted in Jaar, northeast of the port city of Aden, where police had been hunting for wanted members of jihadist groups.

"This campaign comes after dissident elements attacked members of the security forces and government interests, and disrupted peace and security over the past few weeks," a Jaar security official told AFP.

Four Yemeni policemen were killed in fighting, witnesses told AFP.

But an interior ministry official denied the report and said that several troops were wounded.

The official said that 10 members of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army were arrested, including four who were wounded in clashes. Sources close to the Islamic Jihad group told AFP earlier that four people were arrested.

A local hospital official said that a passerby and seven policemen were wounded in the fighting, with two in critical condition.

Residents of Jaar told AFP that security forces cordoned off the city early in the morning and searched a number of houses in their hunt for the militants.

Residents said sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed across the city as gunmen battled troops and police in sporadic firefights.

The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country has seen a spate of attacks on foreign and government targets, most recently suicide bombings against South Korean tourists.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in the historic eastern city of Shibam on March 15, killing four South Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide.

Three days later, a similar attack targeted a South Korean delegation in the capital Sanaa, but there were no casualties.

Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed the four tourists, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

Al-Qaeda has claimed a string of attacks in Yemen, most notably the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors.

Earlier this month Yemen put on trial a group of 16 suspected members of an Al-Qaeda cell, accused of carrying out 13 armed operations against foreign targets and oil installations in the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Attacks by Al-Qaeda have also included a January 2008 shooting that killed two Belgian women tourists, a March 2008 attack on the US embassy, and a rocket strike on a compound housing American oil workers.

The US embassy in the capital was targeted again last September by a double car bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda that killed 19 people, including seven attackers.

A Yemeni security court last month sentenced three suspected Al-Qaeda members to seven years in jail for plotting attacks and possession of explosives.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Interior Ministry circulated a new guide contained photos and names of 154 al-Qaeda wanted suspects, including 116 persons were in the previous guide.

The Interior Ministry said in its website that the new guide, which includes 85 Saudi nationals, consists of accurate information and clear-cut photos.

The guide was distributed to different security bodies throughout the governorates, air, land and maritime outlets, passport and personal status authorities and all security check-points all over the country, as well as the police stations and security offices in the districts.

This procedure comes under an enlarged hunting for al-Qaeda elements aiming at tightening their moves in the different governorates, the ministry added.

The ministry urged the public to cooperate with security to catch the terrorist elements through reporting their places and moves to police. Yemen's parliament summoned the Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defense affairs Rashad al-Alimi who admitted that al-Qaeda managed to penetrate security services.

"We found out security elements affiliated with al-Qaeda" affirmed al-Alimi during a closed meeting.

In responses to accusations that the authorities adopted jihadi organizations, al-Alimi vehemently denied such charges, saying it is unjustifiable to use such allegations to settle political accounts.

"Al-Qaeda faced pressure in some countries such Afghanistan, Pakistan , Iraq and Saudi , thus, some extremists returned to their homes including Yemen " went on al-Alimi.

However, Al-Alimi exalted what he considered security alert throughout the state, hinting that security forces work sometimes in tough conditions and do best to avoid any confrontations which could result in serious consequences and fall numerous victims.

He underscored that 18 out of 23 detainees who had escaped a high-security prison in Sana'a two years ago have been exterminated.

As for the most recent terror bombs which targeted South Koreans, he said that security forces previously knew that 22 al-Qaeda members had met in Baihan district and eight of those who were to carry out terror operations including plans to assassinate 20 Yemeni officials and target embassies and foreign interests were arrested.

Al-Alimi urged parliament to help security forces pursue terrorists who harbored to some tribal areas , particularly the remotest provinces, Marib.

While String of attacks have targeted embassies, tourists, Western interests since 2000 when the USS Cole was bombed in the port of Aden, Al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen had recently called for targeting foreigners inside the state which on the brink of becoming a failed state, as experts warn.

In the latest of a series of terrorist attacks, a high-ranking Algerian army officer was killed in a bomb attack in northern Algeria and a further soldier badly wounded, media reports said.

The attack took place ahead of an election rally appearance by President Abdulaziz Bouteflika in the region. The rally went ahead despite the attack.

The bombing came at the end of a week of bloodshed in which dozens of people were killed in attacks and clashes.

Bouteflika, in power since 1999, is regarded as the top favorite in the, and has vowed to continue a sharp crackdown on extremists. Last week, security forces killed six suspected gunmen, according to media accounts.

In London, The British government warned that al-Qaeda is likely to fragment in the coming years but an attack on Britain involving chemical or nuclear weapons is now "more realistic".

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith highlighted the danger posed by new technologies and failed states around the world as she published an updated counter-terror strategy.

The report - known as Contest Two - is the first unclassified document to contain a detailed account of UK officials' assessment of the underlying causes of the terrorist threat and its likely future direction.

It contains a stark warning about the likelihood of an attack involving a "dirty bomb".

The report says: "Contemporary terrorist organizations aspire to use chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear weapons.

"Changing technology and the theft and smuggling of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) materials make this aspiration more realistic than it may have been in the recent past."

It also notes that terrorists have created new explosives and new ways of using them, and that technology developed in conflict zones is quickly shared around the world.

Ms Smith was asked whether there was a greater threat of a CBRNE attack than five years ago.

She replied: "There is the potential, given the international situation, what we believe to be the aspirations of some international terrorists, that it could be."

She outlined the underlying causes of the risk of terrorists using a CBRNE device.

"Failed states, conflict, technology - both in terms of the ability to use materials and the ability to learn about how materials are used - contribute to our concern about that as a threat, including what we know about what terrorists may have previously planned to do and may be planning to do," she said.

The report said the threat to the UK came primarily from four sources. These are: the al-Qaeda leadership, terrorist groups affiliated to al-Qaeda, "self-starting" terror networks or lone individuals motivated by an al-Qaeda-style ideology, and terrorist groups with their own identity and agenda following a broadly similar ideology to al-Qaeda.

The document said al-Qaeda itself was "likely to fragment" under international pressure, and might not survive in its current form.

The report added: "Terrorist organizations will have access to new technology and may become capable of conducting more lethal operations."

The Contest strategy is divided into four strands - Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare.

These cover preventing radicalization of potential terror recruits, disrupting terror operations, reducing the vulnerability of the UK and ensuring the country is ready for the consequences of any attack.

Ms Smith called for the use of "civil challenge" to those who hold extremist viewpoints.

She said: "The civil challenge means that, if people feel it appropriate to demonstrate against our troops coming home from defending this country abroad, we - as Government and others - will say in turn that we think that that's wrong.

"Not that they've broken the law - one of the things we're defending in this country is the right to free speech, but that isn't free speech that will go unhindered or unchallenged by either Government or, I think, the broader community."

But she ruled out a face-to-face meeting with the group, saying: "I'm not inviting them in for a meeting because I think they're wrong."

The document said the Government's stance on the issue was "uncompromising".

It added: "The Government opposes the use of torture in all its forms, and the Government has always and will continue to condemn the practice of 'extraordinary rendition'.

"UK agencies and police have not and will never engage in these practices."

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "The horrific recent events in Mumbai have highlighted the need for fresh thinking in counter-terrorism, and the whole community needs to be involved in tackling the danger.

"No part of the UK is free from threat and we know that terrorists want soft targets.

In Jerusalem, The Israeli military's firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas during the Gaza offensive "was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.

"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, a HRW senior emergencies researcher.

"It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."

Entitled "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," the 71-page report provides "witness accounts" and "presents ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government."

HRW is an independent international organization dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.

The group urged Israel and the United States to investigate the attacks.

Israel should prosecute those who carried them out and the U.S. government, which supplied Israel, should look into the issue.

HRW said white phosphorous was a chemical substance dispersed in artillery shells, bombs and rockets, used primarily to obscure military operations.