November 1 , 2006

Yemen New Training Ground for Jihadists?

Afghanistan. Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Pakistan's tribal regions. Somalia. All of these areas have served, at one time or another, as terrorist training grounds due mainly to their lawless,"Wild West" atmospheres and the presence of either Islamist (Afghanistan, Pakistan) or impotent (Somalia, Lebanon) central governments. It seems we can now add Yemen to this unsavory list as well. Located on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, the country is ruled with an iron fist by a dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has generally tried to curry favor with the U.S. since 9/11. Saleh has portrayed himself as an ally in the war on yerror, and the White House has seemed eager to promote him as such. Now it appears he may have some explaining to do. Here's more, from the Sydney Morning Herald:

GROUPS of young Australian men are going to Yemen for jihadi training, say law enforcement sources who are concerned the country has replaced Central Asia as a destination for extremists.

Australian security agencies recently identified a small group of men from NSW who travelled to Yemen for religious and military training. It is believed the men were of Arabic background. It is not known if this group has any connection to the Australians arrested in Yemen.

One of the men was stopped from going after he was approached by authorities and warned that he would risk breaking terrorism laws if he flew to Yemen. A law enforcement source said Yemen was attracting radical local Islamists for religious and military training because of the counter-terrorist crackdowns in nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Yemen is the new wild west," the source said. Authorities in Australia have been monitoring individuals who travel for extended periods to countries with radical Islamic training camps, although the ability to move easily over borders makes such detection difficult.

Read it all.