USA gjennomførte torsdag et nytt angrep mot Al Qaida i Jemen, og syv skal ha blitt drept. Det er det andre droneangrepet på kort tid.
Det første var søndag, da en kjent Al Qaida-topp ble drept.
A strike Sunday killed a senior operations leader in AQAP, Fahd al-Quso, who is thought to have been involved in the airline plot and was wanted for his role in the 2000 bombing of a U.S. warship on Yemen’s shore, U.S. officials said.
The bombmaker suspected of designing the latest device, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, has eluded U.S. and Yemeni authorities.
Det er al-Asiri amerikanerne gjerne skulle eliminert. Det er han som lager de farlige underbuksebombene som ikke lar seg oppdage av sikkerhetskontroller.
Avsløringen av at CIA greide å infiltrere Al Qaida med en dobbeltagent er en triumf, men også en risiko mot agenter i felten. Nå er det kommet enda flere opplysninger om ham.
The operative’s background as a Saudi with a British passport helps to explain why he may have been selected by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to smuggle an advanced explosive onto a U.S.-bound flight. In reality, officials said, the operative was working as part of an elaborate espionage mission directed by the CIA and its Saudi counterpart.
..
Officials said the operative had been in place for months and had gained the confidence of senior al-Qaeda figures, who sought to take advantage of his Western passport and other travel documents.
A Western intelligence official described the operation as a “joint venture” that relied on cooperation among multiple agencies to put the operative in position to penetrate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.
Avsløringen av agenten har vakt sterke reaksjoner, både innad i CIA og i Kongressen. En undersøkelse vil bli iverksatt.
Droneangrepene er også utsatt for kritikk.
The latest strikes, aimed at al-Qaeda operatives in southern Yemen, bring the total this year to at least 15, about as many as in the previous 10 years combined.
Nok en NUPI-forsker fremførte denne uken kritikk mot USA for dronekrigen.
U.S. launches airstrike in Yemen as new details surface about bomb plot
