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FBI Warns of Possible Terror Attack
By JoAnne Allen
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Feb. 12) - The United States or U.S. interests in the African nation of Yemen could be the target of a terror attack on Tuesday, the FBI said citing information gleaned from an alleged al Qaeda member held by U.S. forces.
In the most specific alert about possible attacks that the FBI has issued since the Sept. 11 strikes on America, the bureau said evidence an attack may be soon emerged from interrogations of prisoners captured in the Afghan war.
The plot is believed to be led by a Saudi-born Yemeni man.
''Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests in the country of Yemen on or around February 12, 2002,'' the FBI said on Monday.
While mentioning the names and nationalities of the ''extremely dangerous'' suspects, the alert did not specify possible targets.
Information about a planned attack came from captives that the United States is holding from the war in Afghanistan because of suspected links to al-Qaida or the toppled Taliban regime. The captives are being questioned by U.S. authorities.
''A detainee passed second-hand information about a possible threat to U.S. interests, but he was unclear whether it was in the United States or in Yemen,'' a U.S. intelligence official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
SEEKING PUBLIC'S HELP
The FBI said one or more operatives may be involved in the strike and named a suspected ringleader as Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, born in 1979. He was identified as a Yemeni man who also has a number of aliases.
The alert listed more than a dozen aliases for al-Rabeei including ''Furqan'' and said he may be traveling on a Yemeni passport. It was not known whether he was in the United States, the statement said.
Photographs of the suspected ringleader and 12 of his 16 alleged associates were posted on the FBI's Web site (
http://www.fbi.gov).
Al-Rabeei, identified in the caption by one of his aliases ''Al-Rabi'i,'' had a neat, full beard and dark hair with a slightly curly fringe. Most of the others also appeared to be young men with neatly trimmed beards.
The alert -- the fourth issued since the September attacks blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network -- said that most of al-Rabeei's 16 possible associates were Yemeni nationals but a few may be Saudi or Tunisian.
The FBI said it sent its alert to law enforcement agencies around the world. ''Law enforcement officers are requested to stop and detain these individuals (in the Web site) and to contact the FBI for further guidance,'' the FBI statement said.
The FBI alert did not specifically link the alleged plot to the al-Qaida guerrilla network.
U.S. law enforcement authorities have detained hundreds of people suspected to be linked to al-Qaida with the stated goal of disrupting any planned attacks by a network that is believed to operate out of about 60 nations.
AN ATTACK IN YEMEN?
U.S. interests were successfully targeted in 2000 in Yemen, a poor Arab nation located at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Two suicide bombers blew a hole in the guided missile destroyer USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors.
The United States has called bin Laden a suspect in the bombing.
Yemen has become an increasing focus of U.S. efforts to pursue al-Qaida members outside Afghanistan.
Yemen began a hunt for suspected militants linked to bin Laden in December.
A Yemeni official told Reuters last week Yemen had sent a team of investigators to the United States to help interrogate Yemenis captured in Afghanistan. At that time, 17 Yemenis were reported to be among the captives being held in Cuba.
On Feb. 6, CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee that attacks on American targets could be launched by al Qaeda cells already in major cities in Europe and the Middle East, and the network could exploit connections to other groups in countries including Yemen.
The FBI issued three previous terror alerts, on Oct. 11, Oct. 29 and Dec. 3. No previous FBI alert has specified the nationalities or names of suspects plotting possible attacks.
The FBI has been criticized for raising alarm by issuing warnings perceived not to be specific enough to help Americans or law enforcement officers actually be on alert.
