Abdullah Al-Rimi
Encyclopedia
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
) became wanted in 2006, by the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
's FBI, "sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States." He was one of 23 people who escaped from Yemen prison
2006 Yemen prison escape
Twenty-three suspected Al-Qaeda members escaped from a Yemen prison in 2006.The escape is notable because the escapers included several individuals imprisoned for their participation in the USS Cole bombing.The escape is notable because...
in San'a, along with the Yemen cell leader, Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei. Several weeks later he became listed on the FBI's third major "wanted" list, the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
The FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list is the third major "wanted" list to have been created by the United States Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation to be used as a primary tool for publicly identifying and tracking down suspected terrorists operating against...
. Very little else is known about him.
Aliases listed by the FBI: Awaiss, Owaiss, Uwayss, Zubayr Al-Rimi (possible)
USS Cole bombing
On October 12, 2000, one year prior to 9/11, Yemen became an early theater in the War on TerrorismWar on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, when the USS Cole bombing
USS Cole bombing
The USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured...
killed 17 American sailors and wounded 40 off the port coast of Aden, Yemen. In the aftermath, the government of Yemen rounded up numerous suspected terrorists, many of whom were identified as members of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
February 12, 2002 terror alert
In early 2002, according to an FBI report, as a result of US military operations in AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and of on-going interviews of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, information became available on February 11, 2002 regarding threats to US interests which indicated that a planned attack may have been about to occur in the United States or against US interests in the country of Yemen on or around the next day, February 12, 2002.
In response, on February 11, 2002, 17 suspected terrorists were added by the FBI to the "Seeking Information" list.
On February 14, 2002, several days after the FBI alert, six of the names were removed, and the FBI re-published the list as only eleven names and photos, because it was discovered that confusion over transliteration had failed to reveal initially that the removed six wanted terrorists were already in prison in Yemen.
2002 Yemen attacks and plots
Whether foiled, aborted, or merely incorrect specific intelligence, the February 12, 2002 attack never occurred. However, other attacks and plots in Yemen soon followed.In April 2002, there was the detonation of explosives at a civil aviation authority building in Yemen.
There was also an unsuccessful plot that year to kill the United States Ambassador in Yemen.
In October 2002, two suicide bombers
Suicide Bombers
Suicide Bombers is the name of a 2005 EP by Leæther Strip. For the Australian hardcore band see Suicide Bombers -Track listing:# Suicide Bombers# Suicide Bombers # The Shame Of A Nation # This Is Where I Wanna Be...
rammed an explosive-laden boat into the Limburg, a French oil tanker, killing a Bulgarian crew member and spilling 90000 barrels (14,308.9 m³) of oil into the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
. This operation was very similar to the attack on the American destroyer USS Cole two years earlier. Saudi born Abdulraheem al-Nashiri, prime suspect of the USS Cole bombing (currently in the US custody), paid $40,000 to fund the Limburg attack. With that money, the former Al Qaida leader Abu Ali al-Harithi bought the explosives and transported them from his house in Shabwa to Mukalla in Hadramut. Later in 2002, Al-Harithi was killed by the CIA with a missile fired from a Predator drone.
And then after the Limburg attack, there was an attack on a helicopter carrying Hunt Oil Co. employees in Yemen in November 2002.
After many of the suspects in those plots and attacks were caught, trials began May 29, 2004 and centered on the October 2002 bombing of the Limburg.
Mass escape from Yemen
On February 3, 2006, 23 people, 12 of them al-Qaeda members, escaped from a Yemeni jail in San'a, according to a BBC report. They reportedly escaped by digging a tunnel, 140 meters, to a nearby mosque.On February 23, 2006 the U.S. FBI confirmed the escape, as they issued a national Press Release naming some of the escapees as new FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The initial list was formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...
, and also fellow escapee Abdullah Al-Rimi as a new addition to the "Seeking Information" list. He was being sought for questioning relating to any knowledge he might have of the 2000 USS Cole bombing
USS Cole bombing
The USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured...
.
With Al-Rimi as the one addition to the list on February 23, 2006 the total count on the outstanding Seeking Information list stood at eight.
The current status of Abdullah Al-Rimi remains unknown to the public. As of September 2006, he was no longer actively listed on the FBI Seeking Information list.