Woman In Yemen Suspected For Alleged Involvment In Bombing Plot
A woman, suspected of having sent two powerful bombs aboard cargo planes heading for the United States, was arrested Saturday in Yemen for her alleged involvement in the bombing plot which set the security services across three continents on fire. According to the Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, cited by the local news agency Saba, the police surrounded the suspect’s residence in the capital, after receiving information from the United States and Great Britain. More precisely, the Yemeni authorities received the telephone number which the woman wrote on one of the packageʼs dockets. The suspect was taken into custody and interrogated by the security services.
After speaking with the British prime-minister David Cameron, the Yemeni president announced that they agreed on forming a joint committee to investigate the incident and he reassured the Western powers that Yemen will continue the war against terrorism. But he also reminded that his country will refuse any foreign intervention on its territory, even under the pretext of counter-terrorism operations.
As for Hanane al-Samaui, the woman arrested on Saturday, a representative of the security services said that she is 22 years old, she is studying medicine at the University of Sanaʼa and that she was arrested in the company of her mother on the outskirts of the city. Her father is an engineer in the oil sector, working at a company located in the province of Hadramut. The womanʼs arrest led to a demonstration at Sanaʼa, where hundreds of students asked for the release of their colleague. Carrying banners and calling for the release of the young woman, over 500 students of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Sanaʼa marched on campus. ”Where is the justice, where is security? Free Hanane”, students chanted, among which one could see women wearing the full veil. ”Hanan has no ties to any organization and had no political activitiesshe is not even that religious. She is a diligent student,” said Zaynab, one of her colleagues.
Hanane al-Samaui and her mother were eventually released from custody on Sunday, after the Yemeni authorities establisehd that in fact another woman impersonated Hanane and put her phone number on the docket. Nevertheless, the two women are to present themselves for further questioning when required to do so.
Meanwhile, new details about the plot emerge. Thus, Qatar Airways confirmed that one of the explosive devices coming from Yemen and heading for the United States had been transported aboard two passenger planes before being intercepted in Dubai. First the package was flown by an Airbus from the Yemeni capital to Doha. There it was transferred aboard another Qatar Airways flight, which took it to Dubai, where it was intercepted by the police. The company could not say what type of plane was used to transport the device from Doha to Dubai, but it mentioned that it could have been an A320, an A321 or a Boeing 777.
The investigators also suspect the the two bomb packages may have been associated with two schools in Yemen: the Yemen American Institute for Languages-Computer Management, and the American Center for Training and Development. The connection reminded the authorities of the failed bombing from last December, as the Nigeran who tried to blow up a plane heading for Detroit had also studied at a different Sanaʼa language school before training with al Qaeda. If language schools are again involved, this could lead to the idea that that a foreign student or students may have participated in the plot.
After the foresinc specialists on three continents analyzed the bombing devices found on the planes, the authorities came to the conclusion that they may have been the work of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, known as the main bombmaker for al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch. According to the New York Times, Asiri is also suspected of having manufactured both the bomb sewn into the underwear of the young Nigerian who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight last December, as well as the suicide bomb that nearly killed Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, Mohammed bin Nayef, months earlier.
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri is on Saudi Arabia’s most wanted men, according to a list published by the government last year, and he is described as an explosives and poison expert. The authorities believe he has been living in Yemen for the past three years, after fleeing Saudi Arabia. Al-Asiri’s brother, Abdullah, was also on the list of the most wanted men by the Saudi Arabiaʼs authorities, after being lured by Ibrahim to the jihadist movement. But Abdullah died last year during an unsuccesfull suicide attack., when he detonated a bomb on his body with the intent of assassinating Saudi Prince Muhammed Bin Naif .
But the investigations ar far from being over, as the authorities are trying to find the persons who sent the packages to the United States, as well as the persons behind the plot.
