The Empty Quarter

The case of Mohsen al-Fadhli is frustrating. The “Peninsula Lions” leader is a high value al-Qaeda operative that has been wanted for awhile…despite having been arrested numerous times in the past. He is said to have admitted having ties to the USS Cole, Limburg and Aden hotel bombings in Yemen. al-Fadhli, who served in both Chechnya and Afghanistan and was a protégé of Kuwaiti Suleiman abu Gheith and Chechen leader Ami ibn al-Khattab, was arrested in 2002 and confessed to financing the operations. He was convicted in 2003, but the case against al-Fadhli was reversed on appeal in April 2004. He was rearrested January 8, 2005 and his assets were frozen after being designated a global terrorist by Treasury. The Kuwaiti court, however, acquitted him again the next day and he was re-released. In May of 2005 he was retried in absentia and sentenced to 10 years…he has since been at large. He was on KSA’s 2005 list of 35 most wanted terrorists. Apparently, he is in Iran.

I like the new AQ fashion – “funky” and “carefree”.

Qaeda suspect admits recruiting youths for ‘Jihad’ in Afghanistan

KUWAIT CITY : The Public Prosecution is interrogating MS who was arrested by police for luring and recruiting youths to fight Jihad against the foreign forces in Afghanistan, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting knowledgeable security sources.

The sources added during interrogation the suspect has admitted to recruiting 30 youths. He also said some of them have returned to Kuwait while others are still in Afghanistan.

He also said he wore casual clothes and shaved his beard to avoid suspicion. MS is also said to have provided information on the Kuwaiti fugitive, believed to be a member of al-Qaeda organization and identified as Mohsen Al-Fadhli.

He added Fadhli lives along the Iran-Afghanistan border. He also said he has met Fadhli several times without disclosing the place of meeting.
Meanwhile, the security sources have admitted to the presence of sleeper cells in Kuwait but their movements are monitored by the security authorities.
The sources added the members of al-Qaeda organization are adopting a new look by wearing funky clothes to look like youths who are carefree.