

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... blast_dc_9
Leading Al Qaeda Suspect Killed in Yemen Car Blast
Mon Nov 4, 9:09 AM ET
By Mohammad Sudam
SANAA (Reuters) - A car explosion has killed six alleged members of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, including a key suspect in an attack on a U.S. warship in Aden two years ago, Yemen said on Monday.
Yemen's Saba news agency quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying arms and traces of explosives where found in the car along with communications equipment after Sunday's blast in the Marib oil-producing province, 105 miles east of the capital Sanaa.
"The six people who are suspected members of al Qaeda organization were all killed in the blast," the official said, without elaborating on the nature of the blast. The official confirmed earlier reports that authorities believed one of the dead men was Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, also known as Abu Ali, one of two key suspects who were being hunted by security forces since the September 11 attacks on the United States. Washington blames bin Laden's al Qaeda for the attacks.
Abu Ali is suspected of involvement in the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen's Aden harbor that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Yemen is keen to shake off its reputation as a haven for Muslim militants and says it is holding 85 people arrested in a manhunt for al Qaeda members.
Authorities have been hunting down other suspected militants believed to be sheltering in the rugged mountainous area between Sanaa and Marib, a stronghold for disgruntled armed tribesmen who have often kidnapped tourists and foreigners working in Yemen in recent years.
The car blast coincided with a visit to Marib by the U.S. ambassador to Yemen.
A source close to the U.S. embassy told Reuters that there was no link between the ambassador's visit and the explosion or a shooting on Sunday involving a helicopter owned by U.S. energy firm Hunt Oil operating in Yemen.
Gunmen fired at the helicopter shortly after it started a journey from Sanaa to Marib, but it landed safely with one person slightly hurt.
Officials have said it was not yet known who had fired at the helicopter and that authorities were questioning some tribal leaders in the area near the airport in the capital.
A French supertanker was holed by an apparent attack off the coast of Aden last month, almost exactly two years after the Cole attack, which Washington has also blamed on bin Laden.
Yemen is the ancestral home of the Saudi-born fugitive.