En av al Qaidas fremste bombeteknikere, som man trodde ble drept i Jemen sammen med Anwar al-Awlaki, har likevel overlevd, og USA er bekymret for at han er aktiv igjen.
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri utstyrte broren sin med en bombe i klærne og sendte ham til Saudi-Arabia hvor han nesten greide å drepe viseinnenriksminister Muhammed bin Nayef.
Al-Asiri antas også å ha fremstilt bomber som unngikk kontroll og kom med på fly til USA: det gjaldt underbuksebomberen på flyet over Detroit, og bombene i tunere som ble sendt som flyfrakt.
Al Qaida på den arabiske halvøy, AQAP, regnes som den mest slagkraftige av al Qaida-gruppene, og USA tar trusselen på alvor.
En interessant side er at USA nylig utvidet reglene for bruk av droner i Jemen. Man trenger ikke lenger vite navnet på den man dreper, det holder å vite at det planlegges angrep mot USA.
Dette vil gi vann på mølla til kritikere som mener dronekrigen eskalerer og mangler tilstrekkelig kontroll. Policy endres ved administrative forføyninger.
As part of a plan to put pressure on AQAP, the U.S. is widening the war on al-Qaida in Yemen, expanding drone strikes against the terror network. U.S. counterterrorism forces can now target individuals plotting attacks on U.S. soil, even if the person cannot be identified by name, two senior U.S. officials said.
Prior practice required militants to be identified as part of a lengthy legal vetting process.
“What this means in practice is there are times when counterterrorism professionals can assess with high confidence someone is an AQAP leader, even if they can’t tell us by name who that individual is,” one of the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic matters.
The White House did not approve wider targeting of groups of al-Qaida foot soldiers, a practice sometimes employed by the CIA in Pakistan, and strikes will only be carried out with Yemeni government approval, officials said.
AQAP has taken territory in fighting against the Yemeni government and has become a top draw for foreign fighters, who used to travel to Afghanistan or Pakistan to fight. Special operations raids in Afghanistan and CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions — not to mention last year’s U.S. raid that killed bin Laden there — have made them less desirable destinations, U.S. officials say, whereas al-Qaida’s Yemen branch is seen as gaining ground against a government that is allied with the Americans.
Top al-Qaida bomb maker in Yemen resurfaces, raising US concerns as drone war widens
