SAN’A, Yemen (AP) – Yemen’s deputy prime minister says the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on Christmas met here with a radical American-Yemeni cleric linked to Al Qaeda and the alleged Fort Hood shooter.
Rashad al-Alimi says Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab met with cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and other Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen.
Al-Awlaki, a cleric popular among Al Qaeda sympathizers for his calls for jihad, or holy war, became notorious in the U.S. after he exchanged dozens of e-mails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 people in a mass shooting at the Fort Hood, Texas Army post on Nov. 5.
Al-Alimi says Yemen has arrested a number of Al Qaeda elements who had contacts with the Abdulmutallab and is interrogating them.