Yemen detains prison officials over al Qaeda escape (Reuters)

ADEN (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have detained the director of a prison for questioning over the escape of 63 al Qaeda inmates earlier this week, state television said Saturday.

It said the deputy director of the al-Munawara prison in the southern city of al-Mukalla also was detained for questioning. It gave no further details.

The United States and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia are worried that Yemen, rocked by months of popular protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year-old rule, could slide into violence that would be exploited by the local al Qaeda wing to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

The prisoners escaped Wednesday after they dug a 35-m (yard) long tunnel. They attacked prison guards, killing one and wounding two, before they escaped, the state news agency Saba said.

It said security forces pursued the prisoners, killing three and recapturing two.

Yemen state television said Saturday that the body of a fourth inmate had been found. It said he had been sentenced to death.

All the prisoners were Yemeni and most had been jailed after returning from Iraq where they fought alongside militant, he said.

The current head of al Qaeda's wing in Yemen, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, was among 23 prisoners who escaped from a Yemeni jail in 2006.

Yemen is battling hundreds of Islamist militants associated with al Qaeda who have seized control of the southern city of Zinjibar and other adjacent towns.

(Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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U.S. official in Sanaa, al Qaeda militants flee prison (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – A senior U.S. official held talks on Wednesday with government officials in Yemen, which is teetering on the brink of civil war over President Ali Abdullah Saleh's refusal to meet protesters' demands to step down.

The United States and Saudi Arabia fear that a power vacuum and tribal warfare in Yemen will be exploited by the local wing of al Qaeda to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

On Wednesday, dozens of al Qaeda militants escaped from a prison in the city of al-Mukalla in southern Yemen, a region where security forces and militants often clash.

A Yemeni government source said Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, would meet Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi and Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is acting president.

He was also due to hold talks with Saleh's son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been widely thought to be next in line for the presidency until protests broke out earlier this year.

Saleh is in Saudi Arabia recovering from injuries sustained in an attack on his palace in Sanaa nearly three weeks ago.

Feltman's talks will cover a transfer of power from the president to his deputy, the government source said.

As commander of the Republican Guards, the main strike force in Yemen, Ahmed Ali holds an influential position in the country of 23 million, which sits on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

Saleh has defied calls from global leaders, elements in his own military and tens of thousands of protesters to end his 33- year-old rule, which has brought Yemen close to financial ruin.

He has also exasperated his rich Gulf Arab neighbors by three times agreeing to step down, only to pull out of a power transition plan at the last minute and cling on to power.

AL QAEDA MILITANTS ESCAPE FROM PRISON

In an early bid to placate protesters demanding his ouster, Saleh promised not to hand power to his son, but many Yemenis say Saleh relatives including Ahmed Ali still hold key levers of power, blocking any transition without Saleh's consent.

Opposition parties allied with youth activists have also insisted that Saleh formally hand over power to Hadi as a step toward a new government and democracy.

An aide to Saleh said on Wednesday his health was on the mend and that he had been receiving guests and giving orders on Yemen's day-to-day affairs, including power and fuel shortages.

"The president has rejected a request from several members of his family to come to Riyadh to visit him, and stressed that he will return home soon," Ahmed al-Sufi, the president's media secretary, told Reuters.

Dozens of al Qaeda militants escaped from a jail in Mukalla following an attack on the compound. State media said three were killed in a clash with troops and two were recaptured.

"Ten of the escapees are dangerous elements who belonged to a cell that had attacked government officials and tourists," a local security official told Reuters.

One soldier was killed and two were wounded when militants opened fire on al-Munawara prison in Mukalla, a security official said.

"The militants opened fire on the prison gates and exchanged fire with the guards, injuring two and killing one," the security official said, adding that 62 prisoners had fled.

All the prisoners were Yemeni and most had been jailed after returning from Iraq where they fought in militant ranks, he said.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa and Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Yemen: 17 al Qaeda terrorists killed

(CNN) -- Ongoing clashes have left seven Yemeni soldiers and 17 Islamic militants dead in the past two days in the southern province of Abyan, a senior security official said Monday.

At least eight soldiers were wounded in the clashes, three of them in serious condition, said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media and requested his name not be used. The fighting is mainly concentrated in the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar, the official said.

State-run Yemen TV reported that at least 17 al Qaeda militants have been killed in the fighting.

Qasim Bin Hadi, the head of security in Zinjibar in Abyan, said that city has turned into a ghost town and that clashes between government forces and al Qaeda militants have been nonstop since Saturday.

"Bodies of dead people are everywhere in the streets," Bin Hadi said.

Militants seized control of Zinjibar several weeks ago, local residents said.

Airstrikes targeting militant hideouts in Zinjibar and Jaar were behind many of the deaths reported Sunday, said the security official who requested anonymity.

Medics at the Republican hospital in Aden, where injured soldiers are being taken for treatment, said at least 29 soldiers were admitted at the hospital since Saturday night, all having come from Abyan.

"Most of those admitted to the hospital were injured, but the death toll among security forces will rise over the next 48 hours," said one medic, who asked not to be named, as he is concerned for his safety.

On Sunday, more than 100 influential religious and tribal leaders said President Ali Abdullah Saleh was not able to lead the country and should step down.

"Saleh was injured seriously during the assassination attempt on his life. We call on Saleh to hand over powers to his vice president Abdu Rabu Mansoor Hadi, to save the country from further clashes and bloodshed," said the statement, which was circulated to the media.

Saleh and other senior officials were injured in a June 3 attack on the mosque at the presidential palace. Saleh is being treated in Saudi Arabia. Officials loyal to him have said he will return when he has recovered.

Among those signing the statement was Sheikh Abdul Majid al-Zindani, Yemen's most prominent cleric. The United States considers al-Zindani a terrorist, accused in 2004 of supplying weapons to al Qaeda. But he wields considerable influence in Yemen.

The influential signatories are the latest in a growing number of powerful voices seeking Saleh's ouster and demanding a transitional government be formed as quickly as possible.

Unrest has consumed Yemen for months as protesters have demanded an end to Saleh's rule.

In recent weeks, government troops have battled both anti-government tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom and journalist Hakim Almasmari contributed to this report.

CNN

Clinton: Death of top al Qaeda operative 'a significant blow'

NEW: Somali information minister confirms Mohammed's death to CNNU.S. officials confirm that al Qaeda leader is deadHe was killed as he refused to stop at a Mogadishu checkpointFazul Abdullah Mohammed was wanted in connection with 1998 embassy bombings

(CNN) -- A top al Qaeda operative in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was killed at a Somali checkpoint in Mogadishu, Kenyan and U.S. officials told CNN Saturday.

Mohammed, a citizen of both Kenya and Comoros, was long sought in Somalia for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Mohammed's death "a significant blow to al Qaeda, its extremist allies and its operations in East Africa."

"It is a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and elsewhere -- Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis, others in the region and our own embassy personnel," she said.

Mohammed was stopped at a roadblock manned by forces of the Somali transitional government, but he sped through, sparking the troops to shoot him, a senior official in neighboring Kenya said.

"We commend the good work by the (transitional government). Fazul's death removes one of the terrorist group's most experienced operational planners in East Africa and has almost certainly set back operations," said a senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Meanwhile, the commander of Somalia's government forces confirmed that two men driving through a checkpoint southwest of Mogadishu late Wednesday were killed when both opened fire on soldiers there.

One of the men was a foreigner and his identity was under investigation, Gen. Abdikarin Dhega Badans said.

Somalia's information minister, Abdirahman Omar Osman, confirmed Saturday to CNN that Mohammed was one of the dead, calling it a "huge success" for his country's security forces.

But Osman said despite the success, Somalia needs "the support of the international community to beat Al-Shabab," referring to an al Qaeda-linked group that controls large parts of the country.

A woman accompanying Mohammed was later arrested after the shooting, according to Somali government sources. The woman told authorities that the men thought they were crossing an Al-Shabab checkpoint rather than a government-run checkpoint.

The sources said the two men appeared to have modern weapons in their possession along with $40,000 in cash.

The bodies were then turned over to American authorities for DNA testing, the sources said.

The United States considers Mohammed a senior al Qaeda operative in East Africa, accusing him of being an architect of the embassy bombings that killed 225 people.

American officials also believe Mohammed was involved in attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and airliner in Kenya in 2002, and have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his apprehension or conviction.

U.S. President Barack Obama's adviser on national security issued a statement Saturday calling Mohammed's death "another huge setback to al Qaeda and its extremist allies."

John Brennan added that the death "provides a measure of justice to so many who lost loved ones because of the actions of this terrorist."

In the past, Mohammed has managed to escape capture several times. He dodged a 2008 police raid in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi. And in early 2007, a U.S.-led airstrike in Somalia failed to kill him. In 2003, Kenyan police also said he escaped authorities.

In December 2007, the U.N. Security Council amended a list of 25 al Qaeda suspects subject to sanctions, including Mohammed. The description of Mohammed offered numerous aliases and said he had "reportedly undergone plastic surgery."

The FBI description says Mohammed was born in the Comoros Islands, which are east of Mozambique, and has used birth dates indicating he was born in either 1972 or 1974.

CNN's Zain Verjee and Ed Henry and journalist Mohammed Amiin Adow contributed to this report.

CNN

Yemen TV: 21 al Qaeda gunmen killed

An armed, anti-government Yemeni man patrols a street in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday.NEW: Protesters are calling for the creation of an interim transitional council21 al Qaeda members and 10 soldiers have been killed, state TV saysFighting raged in two in Abyan province townsA source says Yemen's government is conducting air raids

(CNN) -- Deadly fighting between Yemeni government forces and al Qaeda erupted in a restive southern province on Saturday.

Demonstrators took to the streets and demanded the creation of an interim body that would guide and shape the country's political transition.

Twenty-one al Qaeda members and 10 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in Yemen's Abyan province, where fighting has raged Saturday, Yemen's state-run news agency reported.

Clashes between security forces and suspected militants have erupted in Lawdar and Zinjibar, towns in Abyan -- a militant stronghold with a presence of Yemen's al Qaeda wing, SABA reported, citing a military official.

Eighteen al Qaeda members and nine soldiers were killed in Zinjibar and three militants and one soldier were killed in Lowdar, the report said. Dozens of people were injured.

"The heroes of the armed and security forces in Abyan province caused the terrorist elements of al Qaeda heavy losses in lives and material after fierce confrontations with those elements that began in the early hours of the morning and lasted several hours and ended with the killing of a number of them and injuring many others," SABA reported.

A Yemeni security official, who has asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told CNN that Yemen's government conducted air raids on positions in Lawdar believed to be held by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Government forces have been fighting Islamic militants who seized the town of Zinjibar. Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard through the city, and planes were seen flying overhead and conducting airstrikes, witnesses and residents said.

The military official cited by SABA said Yemeni military forces targeted a warehouse used by militants to store weapons and cars used by the fighters. The official said troops are working to track down al Qaeda fighters and "cleanse the pockets and hiding places where terrorists are present."

Yemen has been consumed with unrest for months as protesters demand an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In recent weeks, government troops have battled both anti-government tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

A six-nation Gulf Arab alliance, the Gulf Cooperation Council, has tried to broker a government-opposition agreement that would lead to Saleh's departure, but that effort has so far been unsuccessful.

The demonstrations continued on Saturday as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in Sanaa, Taiz, Ibb and Hodeidah, eyewitnesses said.

Witnesses said the demonstrators on Saturday called for the vice president to create an interim transitional council to help fashion a political transition.

They accused the United States and the GCC of supporting the Saleh regime, and demanded support of the youth revolution.

Anti-government forces also criticized opposition political parties and politicians for supporting the GCC deal, which would lead to Saleh's departure but give him immunity.

Khaled Al-Anesi, a prominent rights activist in Sanaa, said the United States and the international community should support the Yemen revolution "as it did in Tunisia and Egypt if it wants Yemen to continue to be its ally in the future."

The chaos there intensified when Saleh and other senior officials were injured in a June 3 attack on the mosque at the presidential palace.

Saleh and other senior officials injured in the attack went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. A government spokesman said Thursday Saleh was in good health and would be returning to Yemen "within days."

CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

CNN

Bin Laden will "haunt" America: al Qaeda deputy (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Osama bin Laden's longtime lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, said the United States faces rebellion throughout the Muslim world after killing the al Qaeda leader, according to a YouTube recording posted on Wednesday.

In what appeared to be his first public response to bin Laden's death in a U.S. commando raid in Pakistan last month, the Egyptian-born Zawahri warned Americans not to gloat and vowed to press ahead with al Qaeda's campaign against the United States and its allies.

"The Sheikh has departed, may God have mercy on him, to his God as a martyr, and we must continue on his path of jihad to expel the invaders from the land of Muslims and to purify it from injustice," Zawahri said in the 28-minute clip.

"Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group ... but a rebelling nation which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance challenging it wherever it is."

Zawahri's association with bin Laden's predates the al Qaeda attacks on the United States in September 2001 that led to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

While the bespectacled Zawahri has been touted as successor to bin Laden, experts on al Qaeda say that another Egyptian militant, Saif al-Adel, is in interim command of al Qaeda.

In the video, Zawahri warned Americans not to rejoice at bin Laden's death. "You should await what will befall you after every celebration," he said.

He condemned U.S. forces for burying bin Laden at sea, a move opposed by senior Muslim clerics as un-Islamic. The Americans said the burial included Muslim rite and took place at sea to deny bin Laden's followers a shrine.

"He terrified America when he was alive and is terrifying it as a dead man, to the point that they shudder at the prospect of giving him a grave because of what they know of the love of tens of millions for him," he said.

Bin Laden, Zawahri said, would continue to "haunt America and Israel and their Crusader allies, their corrupt agents."

"His famous pledge that 'you won't dream of security until we live it as a reality and until you depart the land of Islam' will continue to deprive them of sleep."

Zawahri pledged allegiance to Taliban leader Mulla Omar, who is spearheading fighting against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, calling him the "emir of the faithful."

Zawahri praised the citizen revolts in his native Egypt and other Arab countries, calling on Pakistanis to follow suit: "Shake off the dust of humiliation and overthrow those who have sold you in the slave market to the United States."

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Sami Aboudi)

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Key al Qaeda man killed in Pakistan by drone strike (Reuters)

(Reuters) – A U.S. drone strike killed a senior al Qaeda figure in Pakistan after a tipoff from local intelligence, a Pakistani intelligence official said on Saturday.

The elimination of Ilyas Kashmiri, regarded as one of the most dangerous militants in the world, appeared to be another coup for the United States after American special forces killed Osama bin Laden in a garrison town close to Islamabad on May 2.

Islamabad's cooperation in the killing could help repair ties with Washington, badly damaged when it was discovered that bin Laden had apparently been living in Pakistan for years.

"We are sure that he (Kashmiri) has been killed. Now we are trying to retrieve the bodies. We want to get photographs of the bodies," said the Pakistani intelligence official.

Kashmiri was wrongly reported to have been killed in a September 2009 strike by a U.S. drone.

A Pakistani television station quoted the group Kashmiri headed, Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) which is allied to al Qaeda, as saying the latest report was true.

"We confirm that our Amir (leader) and commander in chief, Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, along with other companions, was martyred in an American drone strike on June 3, 2011, at 11:15 p.m.," Abu Hanzla Kashir, who identified himself as a HUJI spokesman, said in a statement faxed to the station.

"God willing ... America will very soon see our full revenge. Our only target is America."

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

Kashmiri's death is good news for Pakistan, which has failed to subdue militants seeking to topple its unpopular government despite a series of army offensives against their strongholds.

"It will be a very big blow to militants and Pakistan will be a major beneficiary because he was behind attacks on Pakistani defense and military installations," said retired Brigadier Asad Munir, a former Pakistani intelligence officer.

Kashmiri, said to be a former Pakistani military officer, and other militants were with an Afghan Taliban member involved in liaison with the Pakistani Taliban when the drone missile struck, said the intelligence official.

He said they were in a house in South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan, that was believed to be the headquarters of Kashmiri's group, which has been described as an operational wing of al Qaeda.

"We were closing in on him and he switched off his satellite phone and cellphone and he wanted to cross the border to Afghanistan to find a hiding place," the official added. "It was a tipoff by us since we were closely monitoring his movements."

Five of his close allies were also killed in the attack by a pilotless drone aircraft, along with two other militants, intelligence officials said.

U.S. ASKED PAKISTAN TO GO AFTER KASHMIRI

A U.S. embassy spokesman said he could not confirm the killing of Kashmiri or whether Pakistan provided support for an operation.

The killing of bin Laden aroused international suspicions that Pakistani authorities had been complicit in hiding him, and led to domestic criticism of them for failing to detect or stop the U.S. team that killed him.

Kashmiri was on a list which the United States gave Pakistan of senior militants it wanted killed or captured, said a Pakistani official.

Drone strikes have increased under the Obama administration, sometimes killing civilians and fuelling anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

While Pakistani leaders publicly criticize the attacks, analysts say killing high-value targets like Kashmiri would not be possible without Pakistani intelligence.

Washington reiterated its call on Pakistan, a major recipient of U.S. aid, to crack down harder on militancy after it was discovered that bin Laden had been living about a two-hour drive from intelligence headquarters.

The U.S. Department of State has labeled Kashmiri a "specially designated global terrorist."

Last year, the U.S. attorney's office quoted a Chicago taxi driver charged with sending money to Kashmiri as saying the Pakistani militant had told him he "wanted to train operatives to conduct attacks in the United States."

Kashmiri battled Soviet occupation troops in the 1980s in Afghanistan, where he lost an eye. His group also fought Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region.

He has been linked to attacks including the 2008 rampage through the Indian city of Mumbai which killed 166 people.

"This will be a huge loss for al Qaeda," said Kamran Bokhari of global intelligence firm STRATFOR. "Everyone will benefit, the United States, Pakistan and India."

The Pakistani media has speculated that Kashmiri was the mastermind of an attack on the PNS Mehran naval base in Karachi last month which humiliated the Pakistani military.

In that operation, six militants held off 100 security forces, including commandos, for 16 hours.

(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Hafiz Wazir in South Waziristan, Faisal Aziz in Karachi and Myra MacDonald in London; writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Study ties new al Qaeda chief to murder of journalist Pearl (Reuters)

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant recently appointed interim leader of al Qaeda operations, has been linked to the killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, U.S. investigators said in a report.

A Wall Street Journal reporter, Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants, and was later beheaded.

The findings by investigators of the Pearl Project revealed al-Adel had discussed Pearl's abduction with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, also known as KSM, the accused mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"KSM told the FBI that he was pulled into the kidnapping by a high-level leader in al Qaeda circles, an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, who told him to make the kidnapping an al Qaeda operation," said the investigators in their report which was published in January.

Journalism academics and students set up the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the United States to investigate Pearl's kidnapping and murder.

The linkage of al-Adel to Pearl's murder shows the long-standing ties between al Qaeda and Pakistan militancy, which flourishes not only in the lawless northwest along the Afghan border but in Karachi and other urban centers.

Pearl fell into al Qaeda's hands after Pakistani militants, the subject of Pearl's research, kidnapped him.

Al-Adel learned of Pearl and approached Mohammad to take him off the Pakistani militants' hands.

"He (al-Adel) thought this was an opportunity," Mohammad told FBI agents, according to the report's authors.

"We can take advantage of it. He said he wanted to make sure it's an al Qaeda thing."

Mohammad, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and taken to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, later admitted he beheaded Pearl.

Mohammad told investigators he initially had no idea about the kidnapping and he also said al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was reportedly angry over Pearl's brutal killing, the report said.

A former chief prosecutor for Guantanamo Bay military commissions told the researchers: "One of the high value detainees told interrogators that Osama bin Laden was angry that KSM had slaughtered Pearl so publicly and brutally, arguing that the murder brought unnecessary attention on the network."

A British-born Islamist militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in 2002 for his role in Pearl's killing. He has appealed his conviction. Three other co-accused who face life sentences, have also appealed.

Al-Adel, the latest militant named in connection with Pearl's murder, was appointed al Qaeda's temporary leader following the killing of bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a Pakistani town on May 2.

U.S. prosecutors say al-Adel is one of al Qaeda's top military commanders and helped plan 1998 bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. They also say he set up al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

(Editing by Chris Allbritton and Robert Birsel)

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New alleged al Qaeda tape slams NATO

Ayman al-Zawahiri as seen in a photo obtained March 3 when an earlier audio speech by him was posted on jidhadist forums.Audiotape reportedly is voice of Ayman al-ZawahiriHe was second in command to Osama bin LadenSpeaker blasts U.S., NATO, praises uprisings

(CNN) -- A jihadist website on Saturday posted an audio message purportedly from key al Qaeda figure Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The message, according to the website, was recorded "prior to the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden."

The speaker talks about "winds of changes" that have occurred in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. He also mentions Yemen.

Al-Zawahiri, who was second in command under bin Laden, calls the United States leader of "crusader enemies."

"NATO is not a goodwill organization -- it is an aid to the hegemonic powers in this world," al-Zawahiri allegedly says in a portion of the tape on Libya. "They aim to end the corrupt (Moammar) Gadhafi regime but then install their own ideals. They want to steal Libya's resources and relics because of their greed and politics."

He advised Egyptians to help Libyans in their fight. "The fight in Libya today is the fight of the Muslim nation after the governments failed to protect the Libyan people from the crimes of Gadhafi."

The message also congratulated Egypt for ousting President Hosni Mubarak.

CNN could not confirm its authenticity.

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, was considered to be bin Laden's presumed successor, but that may not be the case.

Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer, has been chosen as interim leader, according to CNN contributor Peter Bergen.

Radical Islamic websites on Wednesday posted a similar Arab Spring audio message purportedly recorded by bin Laden shortly before he was killed by U.S. commandos in Pakistan May 2.

The recording, which is more than 12 minutes long and was released by al Qaeda's media arm, As-Sahab, lists the speaker as bin Laden and calls him "the martyr of Islam."

The audio begins with a prayer and remarks reportedly made by bin Laden about anti-government protests and uprisings earlier this year in several African and Middle East countries.

CNN, which translated the audio, could not confirm its authenticity, either.

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U.S.: al Qaeda has interest in strikes on energy infrastructure

Washington (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have warned police across the United States that al Qaeda has a "continuing interest" in attacking oil and natural gas targets, a department spokesman said Friday.

The warning issued Thursday came as a result of information seized during the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, a U.S. official said.

"We are not aware of indications of any specific or imminent terrorist attack plotting against the oil and natural gas sector overseas or in the United States," Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said.

"However, in 2010 there was continuing interest by members of al Qaeda in targeting oil tankers and commercial oil infrastructure at sea."

It is "unclear if any further planning has been conducted" since the middle of last year, Chandler said.

CNN obtained a copy of a DHS/FBI intelligence bulletin that says al Qaeda has been interested in "targeting unspecified oil tankers abroad" as a means to "draw the West into an extreme economic crisis" by disrupting a significant portion of the oil supply for several years.

The advisory says al Qaeda wanted to target oil tankers in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, as well as the Arabian Sea, but the terrorist group "was opposed to targeting tankers in coastal areas with large Muslim populations."

The warning says al Qaeda "believed an effective method for sinking oil tankers was to hijack them and then detonate explosives from the inside." The group thought it would be more difficult to stage an attack from outside a ship, as it could "require several explosive charges since tankers are divided internally into multiple watertight sections."

The bulletin says in 2010 al Qaeda tried to get information about the size, layout and construction of oil tankers to help with attack planning. The document says al Qaeda also recognized the importance of pre-attack surveillance of a possible target and recommended conducting trial runs.

The U.S. official said there's "not a lot of detail" concerning the information, and strikes against the oil infrastructure have "long been part of the al Qaeda playbook."

"No specific attack method was identified in 2010 and there was no reference to a specific date or time of the threatened attack. The global marine industry operates under an international convention intended to prevent terrorist incidents from occurring on commercial ships and in port facilities," the official said.

"If actionable intelligence is received and additional security measures are necessary, requirements or guidance is conveyed through a U.S. Coast Guard-issued Maritime Security Directive and/or Port Security Advisory -- neither have been issued at this time."

The U.S. operation to kill bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, collected a trove of material from the compound, including 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices such as disks and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official said.

Investigators are poring over the items for intelligence. Not long after the raid, investigators said materials taken from bin Laden's compound revealed details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The material suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appeared especially interested in striking on significant dates such as July Fourth, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.

As early as February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and valleys, an alert said, according to one law enforcement official.

The U.S. official said Friday that "if we discover information that points to an imminent threat, the United States government will, of course, swiftly take appropriate measures."

"As for the oil tanker information that is out there, just like the train information from earlier this month, we encourage our partners and the press not to be surprised that we found ideas for terrorist plotting in the home of the world's most wanted -- and most dangerous -- terrorist."

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Source: Yemen al Qaeda seeking power

U.S. official: "They are using the death of bin Laden ... to bolster their own image"It is not clear how much loyalty the group might have to al Qaeda's "caretaker" leaderSaif al-Adel is al Qaeda's interim head, says a source with knowledge of the group

Washington (CNN) -- The Yemeni wing of al Qaeda is trying to position itself for greater power and influence, a sign of an evolving power struggle in the militant group since the killing of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official told CNN Wednesday.

"They are using the death of bin Laden as a way to bolster their own image," the U.S. official told CNN. The source declined to be identified because of the sensitive intelligence information that has led to this assessment.

The move by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, comes as the core of al Qaeda named a "caretaker" leader to replace bin Laden. CNN contributor Peter Bergen reported that Saif al-Adel, who was once an Egyptian special forces officer, has been chosen by a council, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group's inner workings.

But al Qaeda affiliates such as AQAP have yet to swear loyalty to al-Adel. The U.S. official said there are already indications AQAP is sending messages and issuing statements using bin Laden's death as a rallying cry to seek money, recruits and any resources it can get. AQAP is headquartered in Yemen.

"They are definitely trying to take advantage of the situation," the official said. "They are certainly trying to find a way to make lemonade out of lemon." The official noted that bin Laden was viewed as the 'inspiration" for AQAP attacks, and it is not certain how much loyalty the group might have to any new al Qaeda leader.

The United States has long felt that AQAP is a growing threat. One of its leaders, the American-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, has inspired attacks against the United States.

"They are clearly trying to improve their capabilities," as they were even before bin Laden's death, the official said. He noted the death of bin Laden, coming on the heels of the growing civil unrest in Yemen, gives the group the opportunity to both bolster its image and operate more freely.

"We have seen a steady progression of al Qaeda presence in Yemen and efforts by them to organize and become more efficient," the official said.

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Al Qaeda names Adel as interim chief: report (Reuters)

DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) – Al Jazeera television said al Qaeda has appointed a temporary leader and a new head of operations following the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. commandos, citing its own correspondent on Wednesday.

It said in a brief news flash the Egyptian militant Saif al-Adel was named interim leader, while Mustafa al-Yemeni, whose nationality it did not give, would direct operations.

U.S. special forces shot dead Al Qaeda leader bin Laden in his hideout outside the capital of Pakistan earlier this month.

U.S. prosecutors say Adel is one of al Qaeda's leading military commanders and helped plan the bomb attacks against the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.

They also say he set up al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

An al Qaeda expert had said on Tuesday that Adel would likely not act as head of the organization.

"This role that he has assumed is not as overall leader, but he is in charge in operational and military terms," said Noman Benotman, a former bin Laden associate who is now an analyst with Britain's Quilliam Foundation think tank.

Adel was believed to have fled to Iran after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and was subsequently held under a form of house arrest there, according to some media reports.

Arab media reports said Iranian authorities released him from custody about a year ago, and he then moved back to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Some analysts say Adel may have returned to Iran or Afghanistan in recent weeks.

(Reporting by Sara Anabtawi and Erika Solomon; editing by Cynthia Johnston and Mark Heinrich)

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Al Qaeda in Yemen kills 5 soldiers

Anwar Al-Awlaki is one of the key figures of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).The incident took place in Marib provinceAQAP recently was called more dangerous than bin Laden's Pakistan groupThe United States tried but failed to take out al-Awlaki in a drone strike

(CNN) -- Suspected members of al Qaeda's Yemen wing ambushed an army vehicle on Friday and killed at least five soldiers, a government official told CNN.

The incident took place in Marib province, in the western section of the country.

Three other soldiers were injured in the ambush, conducted by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also known as AQAP.

Yemen's government is unpopular among many citizens, and it has been facing a lot of street opposition in recent months, but it has been a U.S. ally in the fight against militants -- most prominently AQAP.

In December, John Brennan, the administration's top counterterrorism adviser, said AQAP posed a greater threat to Americans than the bin Laden group based in Pakistan.

Speaking at a forum at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he said AQAP was "increasingly active" in reaching out to find terrorist recruits, even in the United States.

One of the key figures in the group is Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American-born radical Muslim cleric who moved to Yemen and has become a key figure in AQAP.

A U.S. drone strike recently attempted but failed to kill al-Awlaki. This came after the U.S. military swooped into a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Al-Awlaki has been linked to the suspect in the Fort Hood massacre of 13 people in 2009, as well as the suspect in the 2009 Christmas Day "underwear bombing" attempt in which a man allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device sewn into his underwear as his flight headed toward Detroit.

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.

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Al Qaeda 'confirms' bin Laden death

Protesters burn tires Friday at a rally organized by the Jamrat-E-Islami party in Abbottabad, Pakistan, to condemn the U.S raid.NEW: Dozens arrested in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence official saysAl Qaeda says Osama bin Laden's death will curse the United StatesThe group says it isn't going away and will continue to plotIntelligence found in the raid is tied to a terror threat notificationCNN looks back at the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden in the award-winning documentary "In the Footsteps of bin Laden" at 11 ET Friday night.

(CNN) -- Saber-rattling al Qaeda warnings against the United States emerged Friday as Osama bin Laden's killing yielded a trove of ominous intelligence, including details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Al Qaeda, the bin Laden terror network that masterminded the deadly attack on the U.S. 10 years ago, confirmed its leader's death on Friday in a Web statement, using that opportunity to taunt and threaten the United States.

"Sheikh Osama didn't build an organization that will vanish with his death or fades away with his departure," according to the statement, which CNN could not independently authenticate.

Al Qaeda statement on bin Laden's death

The statement, which congratulates the "Islamic Nation on the martyrdom of their devoted son Osama," repeated themes and threats made over the years in al Qaeda statements, before and after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

"The blood of the mujahed sheikh, Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, is very dear to us and more precious to us and to every Muslim from being shed in vain," the statement said. A mujahed is defined as a Muslim engaged in what he considers to be jihad.

"This blood will be a curse that will chase the Americans and their agents, a curse that will pursue them inside and outside their country, and soon -- with God's help -- we pray that their happiness turns into sorrow and may their blood mix with their tears and let Sheikh Osama's resonate again."

Statement in Arabic (PDF)

Al Qaeda frequently cites the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its pronouncements, and it did so again, saying America "will neither enjoy nor live in security until our people in Palestine live it and enjoy it."

"The soldiers of Islam in groups and as individuals will continue to plan and plot without any fatigue, boredom, despair, surrender or indifference until you receive from them a cunning misfortune that will gray the hair of the child even before he gets old," the statement said.

Pakistanis were urged to revolt and "rise up," cleansing the "disgrace that was brought upon them by a handful of traitors and thieves" and "their country from the filth of the Americans who have wreaked havoc in the land."

The statement surfaced as protesters packed the streets of Abbottabad -- where bin Laden was shot and killed -- in a rally organized by Jamrat-E-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist party. The demonstrators denounced the U.S. and Pakistani governments.

Also, the statement disdained the United States, both its efforts and motives, saying the Americans managed to kill bin Laden "by disgrace and betrayal." Bin Laden was slain early Monday in a U.S. Navy SEAL raid on a compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison town north of the capital of Islamabad.

"Men and heroes only should be confronted in the battlefields but at the end, that's God's fate. Still we ask, will the Americans be able through their media outlets, their agents, their instruments, soldiers, intelligence services and their might be able to kill what Sheikh Osama lived for and was killed for? How far! How impossible!"

Bin Laden was buried at sea in what U.S. officials described as a proper Islamic burial.

But the statement said if Americans treat the bodies of bin Laden or his family members improperly, either dead or alive, or do not hand over the bodies to families, there will be retribution.

"Any offense will open unto your doors of multitudes of evil for which you will only have yourselves to blame."

According to the statement, bin Laden recorded an audio message a week before his death on the revolutions sweeping the Muslim world and offering advice and guidance. Al Qaeda indicated that the release of this message is forthcoming.

Trove of data at bin Laden hideout provides first specific alert

Meanwhile, investigators poring over material seized in Monday's raid found details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and the intelligence led to a nationwide alert regarding rail security.

As early as February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail U.S. trains by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and valleys, the alert said, according to one law enforcement official.

The plan was to be executed later this year, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, though no specific rail system was identified, the official said.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed a notice went out to federal, state, local and tribal authorities.

"We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. rail sector, but wanted to make sure our partners are aware of the alleged plotting; it is unclear if any further planning has been conducted since February of last year," spokesman Matt Chandler said.

Rail agencies across the United States were taking no chances.

The Chicago Transit Authority reissued security bulletins, "reminding employees of what activities to look for and what steps to take should they encounter any suspicious or criminal activity during the course of their duties," said Wanda Taylor, a Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman.

Amtrak employees also were on a heightened "state of vigilance," said spokesman Marc Magliari.

A U.S. official said that "valuable information has been gleaned already" from the cache gathered at bin Laden's compound, though no specific plots or terrorist suspects were identified.

But the material suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. races to dissect possible terror plots

U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appears especially interested in striking on significant dates such as July Fourth, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.

The cache from the compound included audio and video equipment, suggesting bin Laden may have taped makeshift messages there, a U.S. official said.

Ten hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks and thumb drives, were also found, a senior U.S. official said.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the CIA had a safehouse in Abbottabad "for a small team of spies" who performed surveillance on the compound.

Citing U.S. officials, the effort "relied on Pakistani informants and other sources to help assemble a 'pattern of life' portrait of the occupants and daily activities at the fortified compound where bin Laden was found."

It was "mobilized after the discovery of the suspicious complex last August that involved virtually every category of collection in the U.S. arsenal, ranging from satellite imagery to eavesdropping efforts aimed at recording voices inside the compound," the Post reported.

Dozens of people in Abbottabad have been arrested because of their suspected connections to bin Laden's compound, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. Investigators want to know whether any of the people are al Qaeda members or sympathizers.

First suspected drone strike in Pakistan since bin Laden raid

The United States and Pakistan have been allies in the war on terror for years, but there have been strains lately over suspected U.S. drone attacks killing innocent civilians and American concerns that Pakistanis haven't been robust enough in the fight against Islamic militants. Another suspected drone strike killed 12 suspected militants on Friday in the Pakistani tribal region.

Questions in Washington remain over why and how Pakistani intelligence officials could not have known bin Laden was hiding out in a compound in Abbottabad, which has a military academy and a strong military presence.

Pakistani armed forces chiefs issued a statement Thursday admitting that there had been "shortcomings in developing intelligence" on the terror leader's presence in the country.

The army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, also "made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States," the statement said.

Pakistan has ordered U.S. military personnel on its territory drawn down to the "minimum essential" level in the wake of the raid, the statement said.

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Al Qaeda suffers yet more setbacks

Two brothers who were mid-level leaders in al Qaeda are killed in YemenIn Germany, a 25-year-old man pleads guilty to belonging to an al Qaeda fundraising cellThe fundraiser also confessed to being trained for combat operations in Pakistan

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda suffered setbacks on the battlefield and in court Thursday, with two mid-level leaders being killed in southern Yemen, that country's state-run media reported.

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old German national pleaded guilty in Frankfurt to charges of belonging to an al Qaeda terror cell that trained him in Pakistan, a court spokesman told CNN.

In Yemen, the brothers who were al Qaeda leaders, Musaed and Abdullah al-Harad, were killed in Shabwa, where security forces were hunting for them, a security source told Yemen's state-run 26sep.net website.

The two had been involved in several terrorist operations in the past, the source told the digital media outlet.

In Germany, al Qaeda operative Rami Makenesi provided a confession to all charges in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than five years, the spokesman said.

Makenesi traveled to Pakistan in March 2009 and joined al Qaeda after a stay in a terrorist training camp, according to a statement by the office of the federal prosecutor. Makenesi also participated in combat operations in Pakistan, the prosecutor said.

On Makenesi's request, a high-ranking al Qaeda leader released him from further participation in combat operations and ordered him to support the cause by collecting funds in Europe, the prosecutor's statement said. Makenesi was also ordered to be available for other, unspecified missions, the prosecutor said.

Makenesi had to raise 20,000 euros (more than $29,000) every six months and was supposed to act as a contact in Germany, the prosecutor said.

Makenesi was arrested in Pakistan on his way back to Germany last June by Pakistani security forces and was transferred to the German authorities in August, authorities said.

Journalist Roman Lehberger and CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.

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American who trained al Qaeda pilots still wonders why him

Naples, Florida (CNN) -- He didn't lose any friends or family on that Tuesday in September of 2001, but Rudi Dekkers achieved infamy that day, watching two of his flight school students commit murder as they steered two hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center towers.

Today, he celebrates the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"I wish I killed him," he told CNN. "Like a lot of people, I wish I was the one. And bravo to everyone who was behind this. The head of the snake is gone."

Dekkers says he's spent the past 10 years wondering why two terrorists would choose his Venice, Florida, flight school to practice for the day that will go down in U.S. history as one of its greatest tragedies.

Now bin Laden may be gone, but the pain is not.

"To realize he's not there anymore takes some time ... it's a deep emotion for me," Dekkers said. "I don't have that closure yet. I feel like it is buried. But it is fine and perfect that he's out of the picture."

Dekkers' life has been turned upside down ever since it became known that Mohamed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi came to his school, Huffman Aviation, to get their multi-engine commercial pilot licenses in the summer of 2000.

A year later, Atta piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the north tower of the World Trade Center and shortly after, al Shehhi steered United Airlines Flight 175 into the south tower.

Dekkers wrote a book about it, "Guilty by Association,"

He says the title pretty much sums up the last 10 years of his life, filled with threats, forced to sell his business.

"Guilty by association is meant as a phrase to mean banks won't borrow you money. I can't get a job because I'm related to 9/11," he claimed.

And now, with the death of bin Laden, Dekkers is emotionally encouraged, but it's only part of the healing.

"Ten years with this emotion, do you think it's over in one day?" he asked. "They want a scapegoat ... when I met people and they found out I was affiliated with this, they turned their back."

Dekkers no longer has a flight school. He was not able to secure financing, he believes, because of his ties to the 9/11 tragedy.

He went into the swimming pool business for a while and today he runs a cellular phone business. He says that while the event remains heavy on his mind, he does not feel responsible.

"Is the grocery store responsible for keeping them alive, because they bought groceries there? This is life. We're all caught up in this," he said.

Dekkers says that both Atta and al Shehhi never displayed any behaviors that would have labeled them as terrorists. At one point, he says, the two men were on the verge of being kicked out of the school because they did not appear to be taking their training seriously and were too busy fooling around and not listening to their instructors. They had to be warned, and went on to become average students, Dekkers said.

"Al Shehhi was a more likable person. He laughed and joked," said Dekkers.

"My employees called Atta 'Dead man walking.' He had a white face and no emotions and was a nasty person, very unfriendly," Dekkers told CNN.

The two future terrorists went on to pass the FAA commercial pilot's test and were granted their licenses.

"I didn't know what they were about to do," Dekkers said. "I don't feel guilty at all. I couldn't do nothing about it.

"I wish I could be a hero. I think about this often. Why me? But that's fate. You can't turn away from fate, I guess."

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Al Qaeda suspects to face German court

The three were arrested FridayThere is heightened concern in Germany over al QaedaScores of Germans have traveled to Pakistan training camps in recent years

(CNN) -- Three men suspected of belonging to al Qaeda are expected to appear in a German court on Saturday.

German federal police arrested the three a day earlier, a counterterrorism official told CNN.

The German official told CNN that arrests were made in Dusseldorf and Essen, but he did not provide more details.

The three are expected to appear in court in Karlsruhe on Saturday. No details of impending charges are known, but the federal prosecutor's office has scheduled a Saturday news conference.

Several German news outlets reported that chemicals useful in the production of explosives were found on the suspects and that those arrested were suspected of "plotting a significant attack."

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported that one member of the group -- identified as Abdeladim K., a German resident of Moroccan descent -- is believed to have received training overseas and to have been in frequent online communication with a senior al Qaeda operative in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in the lead-up to his arrest. According to the magazine, the suspects were arrested after German authorities intercepted communications referring to a "test" in a several-months-long investigation that also saw the involvement of the CIA.

The arrests "succeeded in averting a concrete and imminent danger, presented by international terrorism," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in a statement. They also showed "Germany remains a target of international terrorists."

German authorities have not indicated whether they believe the group had selected a specific target, though German media outlets noted that the Eurovision song contest, a pan-European televised national musical talent contest, is being held in Dusseldorf in mid May.

The arrests come at a time of heightened concern in Germany over the threat of al Qaeda terrorism.

Last November, Germany raised its alert level after intelligence suggested al Qaeda was plotting a "Mumbai-style" attack against the country as part of a broader conspiracy against European cities.

Islamic militants staged assaults against several targets in the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008.

A German intelligence official told CNN Friday that while concerns had eased over the plot, security forces remained vigilant.

In September 2007, German authorities broke up a plot to attack American servicemen in the country by a German terrorist cell trained in bomb-making by the Islamic Jihad Union -- an al Qaeda-affiliated Uzbek group based in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The four plotters, who were convicted of the plot in a trial held in Dusseldorf last year, had amassed 100 times more peroxide-based explosives than had the bombers of the London subway in 2005.

German media outlets have reported that the plot allegedly foiled in Germany Friday was on a similar scale to the 2007 plot.

German intelligence officials have grown increasingly concerned about the numbers of German Islamist extremists traveling for jihad in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

While most are believed to travel there to fight in Afghanistan, their presence in the tribal areas of Pakistan has provided al Qaeda and affiliated groups with opportunities to recruit operatives for plots against the West.

German intelligence officials said several militants from the German port city of Hamburg who travelled to train in Pakistan's tribal areas were involved in an al Qaeda attack plans against Europe last fall.

According to German officials, information from one of them -- Ahmed Sidiqi -- helped prompt an unprecedented U.S. State Department travel advisory for Americans travelling in Europe. Sidiqi subsequently provided useful intelligence to German counterterrorism agencies, according to German intelligence officials

According to German authorities, more than 200 Germans have traveled to training camps in Pakistan in recent years. German intelligence officials told CNN that more than 40 are still believed to be fighting and training in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

The arrests come just two weeks after one of the Germans currently thought to be in the tribal areas purportedly released a message calling for attacks in Germany. The message came from Mounir Chouka, an extremist who had lived in Bonn.

According to a translation of the message by the SITE Intelligence Group, Chouka urged attacks in Germany following what he called a "pyramid system," in which priority should be given to targeting the head of state, then federal officials and soldiers, and finally average citizens.

intelligence officials said Chouka is one of two brothers who have emerged as German spokesmen for the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The brothers are suspected of facilitating the recruitment of dozens of Germans into the IMU, including Ahmed Sidiqi's Hamburg group.

Of greatest concern however are the 100 or so German jihadists who have returned home. According to a German intelligence source, many of them are under observation by German intelligence agencies because of their continued support for extremist Islamist views and their continued communication with al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan.

Homegrown radicalization has emerged as a significant problem in Germany in recent years, fuelled according to German intelligence officials by the rise of social media and the emergence of German-language jihadist sites that have called on German Muslims to fight American troops in Afghanistan.

In March, two American servicemen were killed when a German Islamist extremist boarded their bus at Frankfurt airport and shot them at point-blank range. The alleged shooter, Arid Uka, was Facebook friends with several prominent German Islamist extremists, according to German intelligence officials.

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Leaked documents detail Gitmo detainees, al Qaeda

The documents obtained by WikiLeaks provide details on almost all of the 779 detainees held at Gitmo since 2002.The documents paint a portrait of how al Qaeda prepared for the 9/11 attacksThey also provide insights into bin Laden's thinking after the attacksThe detainees accounts were cross-checked against each other, the papers sayDocuments: Operatives travel through Iran to get into Afghanistan

(CNN) -- Nearly 800 classified U.S. military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal extraordinary details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed at the U.S. Navy's detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The secret documents have been made available to several news organizations, including the New York Times and the Washington Post - and some have been published by WikiLeaks, an organization that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information.

CNN was not among the news organizations granted early access to the latest files.

101: WikiLeaks revealed

The documents shed light on the way detainees behaved while at Guantanamo, and on how they were assessed in terms of their danger to the United States. They are intelligence assessments of nearly every one of the 779 individuals who have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, according to the Post.

The classified files described some of the detainees as being compliant while others threatened violence against guards. One stated he would fly planes into houses.

WikiLeaks releases trove of diplomatic messages

They also paint in great detail a portrait of al Qaeda as it grew stronger in Afghanistan in the 1990s, prepared for the 9/11 attacks and scattered in their aftermath.

Among the files already published by WikiLeaks and examined by CNN is that of Ahmed Khalfan Gailani, recently convicted by a New York court of taking part in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania in 1998. The file, from 2006 when Gailani was transferred to Guantanamo, includes details of his time as a bodyguard and cook to Osama bin Laden shortly before the 9/11 attacks. Gailani is cited as telling interrogators that the al Qaeda leader had a "normal diet" and usually ate with about 15 bodyguards.

The document says that Gailani later became one of al Qaeda's few forgers of travel documents. He also opted for training in using explosives to avoid front-line combat.

A document from July 2008 profiles another bodyguard for bin Laden, Sanad Yislam al Kazimi, who stated that he "would have been willing to die for UBL" (the shorthand used for the al Qaeda leader.) It says that al Kazimi may have had knowledge of al Qaeda's nuclear and chemical programs.

Al Kazimi escaped from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and returned to Yemen, where he continued to train for terrorist attacks, according to the document.

He was arrested in 2002 after being lured to Dubai while planning an attack on Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates. It adds that while at Guantanamo, al Kazimi made "numerous threats against U.S. personnel including the President."

Al Kazimi reportedly said "he would like to tell his friends in Iraq to find the interrogator, slice him up, and make a shwarma (a type of sandwich) out of him, with the interrogator's head sticking out of the end of the shwarma."

Another Yemeni, Abdu Ali Sharqawi, is described as a "senior al Qaeda facilitator" with links to the 9/11 plotters.

He was allegedly responsible for arranging the travel of Yemeni jihadists to Afghanistan in the 1990s, and when he also moved to Afghanistan he became a confidant of bin Laden.

The 11-page document about his activities says that "on occasion detainee hiked mountain trails with UBL, who hiked them on a daily basis."

Sharqawi told his interrogators that bin Laden had been in good health, even though he had one kidney. The document suggests al Qaeda had plenty of money in the aftermath of 9/11, asserting that "detainee received and passed on over $500,000" while helping jihadists to escape Afghanistan.

According to the Washington Post, the documents provide detailed insight into Osama bin Laden's thinking and movements immediately after 9/11.

"Among other previously unknown meetings, the documents describe a major gathering of some of al Qaeda's most senior operatives in early December 2001 in Zormat, a mountainous region of Afghanistan between Kabul and Khost," the newspaper reports. "There, the operatives began to plan new attacks, a process that would consume them, according to the assessments, until they were finally captured."

The documents show that detainees' accounts were extensively cross-checked against each other, with at least four detainees confirming that al Kazimi was a bodyguard to bin Laden.

Among the more remarkable statements is one from a detainee who claimed bin Laden had written to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, before the 9/11 attacks - requesting the release of al Kazimi (who'd been detained in 1995) and another man from jail. A short time later they were freed and went to Afghanistan.

The documents include substantial detail about the travel of the detainees.

In one instance, a Spanish jihadist by the name of Ahmad Abd Al Rahman Ahmad -- after spending time in Britain and France -- is instructed to travel to Afghanistan via Iran. The document notes: "Travel through Iran is a known modus operandi for al Qaeda operatives to get into Afghanistan via a chain of safe-houses and operatives."

According to the New York Times, the documents show that most of the 172 prisoners still held at Guantanamo have been rated as a "high risk" of posing a threat to the United States and its allies if released without adequate rehabilitation. But they also show that many others who have been released or transferred to other countries were also designated "high risk," the newspaper says.

Detainees are assessed "high," "medium" or "low" in terms of their intelligence value, the threat they pose while in detention and the continued threat they might pose to the United States if released.

The newspaper says the documents include details about detainees' illnesses and behavior at Guantanamo -- including "punching guards, tearing apart shower shoes, shouting across cell blocks." But the documents appear to shed little light on interrogation tactics at Guantanamo, which have drawn widespread criticism.

The New York Times says that the documents lay bare "the patchwork and contradictory evidence that in many cases would never have stood up in criminal court or a military tribunal."

Pentagon: WikiLeaks has damaged operations

The British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, also reports that the documents suggest much of the evidence used to detain jihadist suspects was flimsy. It says that "people wearing a certain model of Casio watch from the 1980s were seized by American forces in Afghanistan on suspicion of being terrorists, because the watches were used as timers by al Qaeda." Most were subsequently released for lack of evidence.

Others, according to the New York Times, were not so fortunate despite a lack of evidence.

One man detained in May 2003 insisted he was a shepherd and according to his debriefers at Guantanamo Bay knew nothing of "simple military and political concepts." Yet a military tribunal declared him an "enemy combatant" anyway, and he was not sent home until 2006, the Times reports.

The U.S. Defense Department condemned the release of the documents, known as DABs.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell and Ambassador Daniel Fried, the Obama administration's special envoy on detainee issues, said in a statement: "The Guantanamo Review Task Force, established in January 2009, considered the DABs during its review of detainee information. In some cases, the Task Force came to the same conclusions as the DABs. In other instances the Review Task Force came to different conclusions, based on updated or other available information."

WikiLeaks gained international prominence after leaking thousands of papers about the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Earlier this year it released a huge cache of secret American diplomatic papers.

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