JunghwaNoh

June 7, 2010
12 Americans Detained in Yemen
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — Twelve Americans have been taken in custody in Yemen, the State Department spokesman said Monday, but the circumstances of why and when they were detained were unclear.

“If the question is, are we aware that there are Americans in custody in Yemen, we are,” the spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, told reporters. “We’re trying to find out more information.”

A Yemeni official who was trying to sort out the contradictory reports on Monday said that several dozen foreigners have been detained on suspicion of radical or terrorist ties since December, when the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner by a Nigerian trained in Yemen set off a security crackdown.

But the Yemeni official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said he did not have details on the number of people arrested, their nationalities and the exact charges they face.

Agence France-Presse, citing an unnamed security official in Yemen, reported Sunday that Yemeni security forces had arrested more than 30 foreign citizens on suspicion of having links with Al Qaeda, among them 3 Frenchmen, an American and a Briton.

Other news agencies have reported in recent days that some or all of the foreigners detained were students studying Arabic at one or more of the language institutes in Sana, the Yemeni capital.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb the airliner on Christmas, studied at one of the schools, the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language, before he met with Qaeda operatives in Yemen to prepare to carry out his plot.

When asked if any of the Americans arrested had ties to terrorist activities, Mr. Crowley said he would not get into specific details.

Mr. Crowley declined to say whether any of the foreigners detained in Yemen had been taken into custody at the request of their governments.

Senior American officials have expressed growing alarm about the increasing number of Americans who are drawn to video and audio recordings that promote jihad, including lectures by the American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen.


Scott Shane contributed reporting.