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CNN Live At Daybreak

Al Qaeda Suspect in Yemen Accidentally Kills Himself

Aired February 14, 2002 - 05:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A suspected al Qaeda terrorist linked to the USS Cole bombing has apparently killed himself by accident.

CNN's Brent Sadler has the story from Sanaa, Yemen -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Carol.

An extraordinary sequence of events less than 24 hours ago when Yemeni security forces began encircling a house near Sanaa University here in the Yemeni capital, working on a tip-off from a landlord about a suspected al Qaeda terrorist hiding out in the city here.

As police approached, they came under gunfire. They returned fire and in the ensuing confusion, the wanted man slipped away. His name -- and we can see a picture of him on the front page of September 26 -- that's one of the government newspapers here, one Samir Ahmed Mohammad al-Hada, a 25-year-old wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole, that American destroyer that was the target of a suicide bombing in the port of Aden, which resulted in the loss of 17 American sailors.

Now, this man, Ahmed Mohammad al-Hada, was blown up when he apparently attempted to throw a hand grenade at his pursuers during the chase.

Now, throughout this morning, the Yemeni authorities have been working the scene and they're saying through police sources here that they came away with a series of evidence, including two pistols, a mobile telephone, a list of telephone numbers, books and documents, and that evidence, they say, is now being studied by both Yemeni investigators and U.S. investigators who are at this time in the Yemeni capital.

Now, what makes al-Hada very interesting is that he has very important, it's alleged, connections to al Qaeda operatives, notably, two of his brothers-in-law. One of them is said to be one of the Pentagon suicide hijackers from September the 11th. The other brother-in-law, his name appears on a list of 17 suspects, al Qaeda suspects given out in an FBI worldwide terrorist alert only on Tuesday, an alert that was warning of the possible attack by al Qaeda against U.S. interests both here and in the United States.

So the Yemeni security forces here claiming a significant success in this latest operation, an operation which continues to go after al Qaeda suspects in this country -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you for the update.

Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Yemen this morning.

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