NYTIMES: Yemen says it foiled terror plot

NYTIMES:

SANA, Yemen — Yemeni security officials said Wednesday that they had foiled an audacious plot by Al Qaeda to seize an important port and kidnap or kill foreigners working there, but the claim aroused some skepticism among Yemenis and independent terrorism analysts.

The foiled plot did not appear to be related to the threat that has led to the closing of embassies here and elsewhere.

A day after the United States and Britain moved to withdraw personnel from Yemen in response to concern over the possible terrorist threat, Yemen’s capital was in a state of high alert, with jet fighters soaring overhead and many streets barricaded.

Intercepts of secret correspondence between Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Qaeda affiliate inYemen, inspired deep concern inside the American government about a possible terrorist plot by the group. American government officials said that Mr. Zawahri used the communication to urge the Yemeni militant leader to carry out a large terrorist attack.

But the Yemen-based affiliate of Al Qaeda makes frequent threats, and Yemen’s government is under international pressure to show that it is working hard to counter the terrorist group.

At the same time, the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, said a drone strike in Yemen’s southeast killed seven people on Wednesday. An earlier strike on Tuesday killed four people.

Yemeni security officials said the foiled militant plot included a plan to take control of the Mina al-Dhaba oil terminal in the Mukallah region on the Arabian Sea in the country’s southeast. The officials did not say how the plot — which followed government reports about a similar plot at the same port in June — had been disrupted.

The plan would have involved many Qaeda operatives wearing Yemeni Army uniforms to seize the port and then attack, kill or kidnap foreigners working there, the officials said. It was not clear if the disruption of the purported plan was linked to a spate of recent American drone strikes.

The security officials said the latest strike hit members of a Bedouin tribe some 40 miles west of Attaq in the southeastern area of Shabwah. It was the fifth known American strike in the last two weeks, part of an intensified campaign to disrupt the suspected plots that led to the embassy closings.

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In light of terror threat - US pulls diplomatic staff out of Yemen

The US government has flown diplomatic staff out of Yemen and is urging its citizens to leave "immediately" amid concerns over security threats.

It follows the sudden closure of 20 US embassies and consulates on Sunday.

This was prompted by intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, US media said.

Meanwhile the UK Foreign office says it has withdrawn embassy staff from Yemen and advises against all travel there.

The US earlier said the closures in North Africa and the Middle East were "out of an abundance of caution".

A global travel alert issued on Tuesday said: "The US Department of State warns US citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.

"The department urges US citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those US citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately."

It added that "the security threat level in Yemen is extremely high".

The Pentagon said the US Air Force was flying staff out of the capital Sanaa on Tuesday morning "as part of a reduction in emergency personnel".

It comes hours after a drone strike reportedly killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants in the country.

"The US Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the US state department and monitor the security situation.

The BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says the Yemeni capital has been experiencing unprecedented security measures, with hundreds of armoured military vehicles deployed to secure the presidential palace, vital infrastructural buildings and Western embassies in the capital.

Our correspondent says that a security source confirmed that Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that dozens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in Sanaa over the past few days from other regions in preparation for the implementation of a large plot.

The source described the plot as dangerous, and suggested it was to include explosions and suicide attacks aimed at Western ambassadors and foreign embassies in Yemen, in addition to operations aimed at the Yemeni military headquarters.

Both the White House and the US state department have said the current threat comes from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but have refused to divulge further details.

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Iran's new President - meet the new boss - same as the old boss?

(CNN) -- Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani took the oath of office Sunday, replacing controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rouhani, 65, a cleric considered moderate, won the June elections with reformist backing. He campaigned on a "hope and prudence" platform in which he appealed to traditional conservatives and reform-minded voters alike.

He pledged to improve the economy and unemployment. And as a former nuclear negotiator, he vowed to reduce the high tension between Iran and the outside world by addressing sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program.

The White House congratulated Rouhani, and in a statement called his inauguration "an opportunity" for Iran to "resolve the international community's deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program." Should Iran decide to engage on the nuclear issue, the statement read "it will find a willing partner in the United States."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting, said the president of Iran may have changed, "but the goal of the regime has not been replaced."

"Iran's intention is to develop a nuclear capacity and nuclear weapons in order to destroy the State of Israel," he added.

Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian nuclear energy

Two F-16s colide off Virginia Coast

The Coast Guard rescued an Air National Guard pilot after his plane went down off the Virginia coast overnight, authorities said Friday morning.

According to officials, two F-16C Falcon fighters assigned to the 113th Wing D.C. Air National Guard were on a routine training mission off the coast of Chincoteague Island when they collided in mid-air sometime before midnight.


One pilot was able to fly his plane back to Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, while the other pilot ejected from his aircraft.

Coast Guard personnel received an automated distress signal from the ejection seat about 10:30 p.m. Thursday and dispatched emergency crews aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to assist the pilot, the Coast Guard said.

The Jayhawk crew rescued the pilot about 12:30 a.m., hoisting him from the water about 35 miles southeast of Chincoteague and taking him to Joint Base Andrews. Both pilots were treated on the base with minor injuries.

Coast Guard officials said in a news release that the pilot who ejected was in “good condition” and that the cause of the collision remains under investigation.

Terror alert: US Embassies warned of al-Qaeda-related terror threat.

US embassies and consulates across the Middle East and Asia will be closed on Sunday due to an al-Qaeda-related terror threat, officials said Thursday.

Diplomatic posts in Israel, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan are among those that will be shut for at least one day, according to an NBC News report.

The US has been “apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, that indicates we should institute these precautionary steps,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

She added that the closures may be extended, “depending on our analysis.”

Messages alerting US citizens of the closures went out in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, according to the report.

US officials said the threat appeared to have originated somewhere in the Middle East, and that it was aimed at overseas diplomatic posts, not at facilities inside the US.