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Sana'a: One of the three Al Qaida leaders in Yemen was killed with four other operatives during a security operation in Sayoun in eastern Yemen, official sources said on Tuesday.
Hamzah Salem Omar Al Quayti, mastermind of almost all terrorist acts in Hadramout, was killed along with Al Hussain Ba Zarah (Abu Waleed); Mabarak Bin Hawl, Abdullah Ali Saleh Batais, and Hamoud Al Nahdi.
Two more of the seven-member group - Ali Mohsin Saleh Al Akbari and Mohammad Saeed Ba Owaidhan - were injured and arrested after the clash, the sources said.
The militants who were hiding in a house stormed by security forces had formed a cell which planned to execute terror attacks and bombings in Yemen and abroad, they said.
Ahmad Saeed Al Mashjari, the suicide bomber who drove a car bomb and blew himself up at the gate of the security camp in Sayoun on July 25, was member of the group. His passport was found in the house of the group in in Tarim, Sayoun.
Two security men were killed and four others injured in the operation which lasted for about four hours, the sources said.
Passports of two Saudis
Two more passports belonging to two Saudi nationals were found in the house.
Weapons, ammunition and explosives (40 bags of explosive and TNT materials) and computer sets were also found in the house which was rented by the group.
Material and equipment for making car bombs were also recovered in the house.
Documents and plans showing future operations not only in Yemen but also in the whole region were also found, according to the security sources.
The leader of the group, Al Quayti, was one of the 23 Al Qaida men who escaped from a Sana'a maximum security prison early in 2006.
He is the fifth one who escaped from the prison to be killed. Fifteen others were either surrendered or re-arrested.
The security sources said that the group was behind the suicide attack on the security camp in Sayoun late last month, and suicide attack on the oil harbour of Al Dhabba in Hadramout in September 2006, and the failed attack on US embassy in Sana'a last March, and the failed attack on the Italian embassy in April.
The government described the operation as successful and as a new victory for Yemen on Al Qaida.
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