Fahd Mohammed al-Quso, a particularly elusive al-Qaeda fugitive who helped plan the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, once again evaded an attempt to kill or capture him Thursday by dodging a U.S. airstrike in southern Yemen, according to Yemeni security officials.
Quso, 36, a Yemeni who once fought in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden and knew two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, has a history of improbable escapes that have frustrated U.S. counterterrorism officials for nearly a decade.
Middle East and North Africa in turmoil
The al-Qaeda operative escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2003, survived U.S. airstrike in Yemen in December 2009, and was erroneously reported killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan last year. He has also steadfastly avoided capture despite being on the FBI’s most-wanted list and having a $5 million bounty placed on his head by the State Department.
“I never thought in a million years that this guy was ever going to get out of jail,” said Ali Soufan, a retired FBI agent who interrogated Quso in early 2001 while the al-Qaeda operative was in Yemeni custody for the Cole bombing. “Every time we do a hit on him and he survives, his reputation becomes more significant in al-Qaeda.”
Quso’s most recent close call came Thursday, when he was targeted by a U.S. airstrike in Yemen’s restive southern province of Abyan, the Yemeni security officials said.
At least six suspected al-Qaeda fighters were killed and about 40 other people were wounded in an attack on a police station under the control of militants, according to Yemeni security officials and tribal leaders. Security officials said Quso was among those targeted, though it was unclear if he was in the police station at the time or if he was present at a separate airstrike nearby.
Details of the attack remain murky. Yemeni and U.S. officials declined to elaborate on whether the strikes were carried out by U.S. drones or manned fighter jets, both of which have targeted al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen in the past.
The Defense Department and the CIA both cooperate with Yemeni government in conducting counterterrorism operations in Yemen. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday’s airstrike was carried out by the U.S. military.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the incident. “We we don't talk about the specifics of operations, ” said Marine Col. David Lapan.
Quso is considered a rising figure in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the regional affiliate of the main al-Qaeda organization. U.S. officials say that the Yemeni group poses the leading contemporary terrorist threat to the United States.
A member of the al-Aulaqi tribe in southern Yemen, Quso is a distant relative of Anwar al-Aulaqi, another high-profile terrorist suspect and a dual U.S.-Yemeni citizen who is also believed to be hiding in southern Yemen.
On Dec. 24, 2009, a U.S. cruise missile crashed into a house in southern Yemen’s Shabwa province, killing several suspected al-Qaeda fighters. The cell had been recruited by Quso, who narrowly escaped serious injury, according to an account of the attack last year in the New York Times.
The next day, the al-Qaeda affiliate responded with an attempted attack of its own as an operative flew to Detroit with explosives in his underwear. U.S. officials have said that the bomber had been in contact with Quso beforehand.
In May 2010, Quso and other al-Qaeda leaders appeared in an Internet video taking credit for the underwear plot. They vowed to continue attacks on U.S. targets.
Five months later, Pakistani media reported that Quso had been killed in a U.S. drone strike in the tribal areas near the Afghan border. Soon after, however, the Yemeni emerged from hiding to dismiss the “rumors” of his death in an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat. Although Quso had spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past, he told the newspaper that Yemen offered a much safer refuge.
According to a U.S. indictment filed against him in 2003, Quso helped plan the attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors as the warship was docked in the harbor of Aden. He was also supposed to film the explosion for propaganda purposes from an apartment overlooking the harbor, but overslept.
“He’s not so smart operationally, but he’s a dedicated Qaeda guy, and a true believer in the cause,” said Soufan.
Quso escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2003 along with several other suspects in the Cole bombing. He was recaptured a year later, then convicted and sentenced to 10 years for the attack. In 2007, however, the Yemeni government secretly released him and has refused to hand him over to the United States, saying the Yemeni constitution forbids extradition of its citizens.
Qadhi, a special correspondent, reported from Sanaa.
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