wonder if we are already using intel from Bin Laden compound?

[Christians4LessGvt]

US airstrike targets Saudi al Qaeda commander in Yemen:

By Bill Roggio

May 5, 2011

The US is thought to have launched a Predator airstrike today against a Saudi commander for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Two "dangerous" terrorists were reported killed in the strike.

The airstrike took place in the Mayfaa district in Shabwah, a mountainous province in central Yemen that is a known safe haven for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The name of the Saudi al Qaeda commander who was targeted was not disclosed. The dead men were identified as two brothers, Musaed and Abdullah al Harad, and described as "mid-level leaders" who are "among the dangerous elements of al Qaeda and involved in several terrorist operations during the past period," according to the Yemen News Agency (SABA).

The Washington Post identified the two men as Musaed Mubarak Aldaghery and Abdullah Mubarak Aldaghery, and said they were killed when a missile struck their car. "Security authorities were tracking them down for some time," a Yemeni spokesman told The Washington Post. "They are known operational al Qaeda fighters."

A security official and a witness confirmed the airstrike, and told AFP that unmanned "drones" were used in the airstrike. The US is the only country known to operate the Predators and Reapers, the armed, unmanned aerial vehicles capable of striking inside of Yemen. Last fall, the US Joint Special Operations Command deployed unmanned strike aircraft to target al Qaeda operative in the region.

The US is thought to have carried out at least six air and missile strikes inside Yemen since December 2009 [see list below]. One strike, a Tomahawk cruise missile attack on Dec. 17, 2009, hit what was thought to be a training camp run by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the town of Ma'jalah in the province Abyan. Fourteen al Qaeda fighters, along with 41 civilians, were reported killed in the attack.

Some of the top leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been targeted in airstrikes since December 2009, including Abu Basir al Wuhayshi, the group's leader; Said Ali al Shihri, the second in command; Abu Hurayrah Qasim al Raymi, the military commander; Ibrahim Suleiman al Rubaish, the top ideologue; and Anwar al Awlaki, a top recruiter and ideologue.

Yemen has become one of al Qaeda's most secure bases and a hub for its activities on the Arabian Peninsula and on the Horn of Africa. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula maintains safe havens in various parts of the country and is also known to operate terror camps in Aden, Marib, Abyan, and in the Alehimp and Sanhan regions in Sana'a. The terror group has conducted attacks on oil facilities, tourists, the US embassy in Sana'a, and Yemeni security forces.

Since the onset of large anti-government protests in March 2011, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is known to have openly taken control of areas in Abyan, Shabwah, Hadramawt, Marib, and Lahj.

Yemen serves as a command and control center, a logistics hub, a transit point from Asia and the Peninsula, and a source of weapons and munitions for the al Qaeda-backed Shabaab in Somalia.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has also been used as a hub to attack the West. The 2009 Fort Hood shootings and the Christmas Day airline plot, and an airline parcel bomb plot in 2010 have all been traced back to Yemen.

"Yemen is Pakistan in the heart of the Arab world," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in 2009. "You have military and government collusion with al Qaeda, peace agreements, budding terror camps, and the export of jihad to neighboring countries."



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/05/us_airstrike_targets_5.php#ixzz1LVse0OBC

[Kramer]

It only makes sense that quickly jumping on certain info might produce good results due to the fact that the organization is likely retooling due to the information being compromised. No doubt some info spoils over time.

[sirs]

I'd agree.  Terrorist assets are likely to move ASAP, now that many of their locations have been compromised.  Which means we need to jump on them, before that happens

Which also means, cudos for Obama for allowing the Military to follow-up on some of this likley new found intel

[sirs]

Feds Ask for Vigilance on Trains Based on Info from Bin Laden Compound

An advisory has been sent to law enforcement officials advising them to be vigilant about train security based on information uncovered after the death of Osama bin Laden, officials said.

Officials stressed the advisory is general in nature and the information apparently uncovered from the bin Laden compound dates back more than a year.

According to NBC News, U.S. officials say they have not found reference to specific plots. Instead, they say they've found what they call "aspirational" items -- events al-Qaida operatives were interested in trying to make happen.

There was nothing specific to New York, according to a law enforcement official.

A government advisory sent Thursday says that as far back as February 2010, al-Qaida was contemplating "an operation against trains at an unspecified location in the United States on the 10th anniversary" of the 9/11 attacks.

One option, the advisory says, was trying to tip a train by tampering with the rails so that the train would fall off the track at either a valley or on a bridge. Such an attempt would probably only work once, the material in bin Laden's house said, because tilting or tampering with the rails would be spotted, the advisory says.

Other material mentions a desire to target major mass-transit hubs, an interest long understood because of the history of al-Qaida attacks on rail targets in Spain, the U.K. and India.

The FBI and Homeland Security are encouraging local governments to be vigilant. But there are no plans to issue a terror alert, because there's still no specific or credible intelligence of any actual attack plan in the works. 

Rep. Peter King said "there was information found in the last several days  -- I don't know where it's come from -- but that al-Qaida was considering having an attack on mass transit or trains before the 10th anniversary of September

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