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Yemeni Authorities Foil Qaeda Plot, Officials Say Yemeni Authorities Foil Qaeda Plot, Officials Say
(about 2 hours later)
SANA, Yemen — A day after the United States and Britain moved to withdraw personnel from Yemen, a move that had followed embassy closures, Yemeni security officials said Wednesday that the authorities here had foiled an audacious plot by Al Qaeda to seize an important port and kidnap or kill foreigners working there. 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.
At the same time, the officials, who spoke on 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 had killed four people. The foiled plot did not appear to be related to the threat that has led to the closing of embassies here and elsewhere.
Disclosure of the foiled plot provided the first indication as to why Western nations had been increasingly concerned for the safety of their citizens. Intercepts of secret correspondence between Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, and Nasir ul-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, inspired deep concern inside the American government about a possible terrorist plot by the group. 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.
Those fears prompted a mass closing of American and other Western diplomatic outposts. American government officials said that Mr. Zawahri used the communication to urge the Yemeni militant leader to carry out a large terrorist attack. Intercepts of secret correspondence between Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, and Nasir ul-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, 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.
Yemeni security officials said part of the militant operation included a plan to take control of the Mina al-Dhaba oil terminal, which is run by Canada, in the Mukallah region on the Arabian Sea in the country’s southeast. The officials did not say how the plot had been disrupted. 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, which is run by Canada, 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 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 attack hit members of a Bedouin tribe some 40 miles, or 64 kilometers, 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. 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.
The BBC earlier quoted a Yemeni government spokesman as saying the foiled plots were more extensive, involving plans to blow up oil pipelines and take over two ports in the south, threatening Yemen’s oil exports. The BBC earlier quoted a Yemeni government spokesman as saying that the foiled plots were more extensive, involving plans to blow up oil pipelines and take over two ports in the south, threatening Yemen’s oil exports.
The spokesman said the authorities had foiled plans to blow up oil pipelines and take control of key cities — including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen’s oil exports.

Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Washington.