TerrorismUSS Cole attack mastermind killed in drone strike in Yemen
A U.S. drone attack in Yemen kills Fahd al-Quso, 37, one of the masterminds of the 2000 USS Cold attack; al-Quso was a senior operative in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and among other plots, was behind the underwear bomber’s attempt on a Delta flight to Detroit; he escaped an earlier drone attack, in 2009; the Obama administration has dramatically intensified drone attacks on terrorist targets; since Obama took office on 20 January 2009, there have been 260 attacks by Predators or Reapers in Pakistan — averaging one every four days; in addition, there have also been some three dozen drone attacks on terrorist targets in Yemen, and a few in Somalia
Hull of the U.S.S. Cole following the suicide bombing attack // Source: al-bab.com
A U.S. drone fired a missile which killed Fahd al-Quso, 37, an al Qaeda operative who was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2002 for his role in the bombing of USS Cole. The 2000 attack on U.S. Navy ship took the lives of seventeen American soldiers and injured thirty-nine.
Al-Quso escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2003. He was on the FBI’s most wanted list, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. He turned himself in to the Yemeni authorities in 2005, and served two more years in prison. He was released in 2007.
The Guardian reports that one, and possibly two, more al Qaeda operatives died in the missile attack on a car they were driving in the Wadi Rafad valley in the country’s southern Shabwa province.
Al Qaeda admitted the death, saying in a statement: “Al-Qaida affirms the martyrdom of the Fahd al-Quso in an American attack this afternoon in Rafad.”
The United States, unhappy with al-Quso’s 2007 release from jail, used its intelligence network in Yemen to track him. In 2009, following a CIA drone attack which was coordinated with the Yemeni authorities, the Yemeni government announced that al-Quso was killed, but he resurfaced after a couple of month.
In his teens, al-Quso, who would later be known for his talent for disguises, studied Salafi Islam in northern Yemen, then returned to the south and became to a welder.
Al-Quso was involved in plotting the Christmas 2009 bombing, and met with the Nigerian bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in Yemen before the latter left on his way to execute his failed attack over Detroit with a bomb concealed in his underwear.
The use of drones to target terrorists was initiated by the Bush administration in 2004, but was dramatically intensified under the Obama. The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that since Obama took office on 20 January 2009, there have been 260 attacks by Predators or Reapers in Pakistan — averaging one every four days. In addition, there have also been some three dozen drone attacks on terrorist targets in Yemen, and a few in Somalia.
The Obama administration also escalated to drone war in another respect: the president has authorized the use of drones against American citizens consorting with al Qaeda. Last September, CIA drones killed Anwar al Awlaqi, a New Mexico-born Jihadist involved in operational planning for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and North Carolina blogger Samir Khan, who was the editor of Inspire, al Qaeda’s English-language magazine. Two weeks after the attack on al Awlaqi, his 16-year old son, Abdulrahman, was killed in a drone strike on a training camp for al Qaeda militants.
In addition to their al Qaeda affiliation, and their untimely demise, Fahd al-Quso and Anwar al Awlaqi share something else in common: both hail from the same tribe in the Shabwa province in south Yemen.
