US law enforcement authorities believe as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison have traveled to Yemen, possibly to train with al-Qaeda, a Senate report said.
The “radicalization” of the individuals has alarmed US officials even though no evidence has tied them to terror activities.
Several of the individuals have “dropped off the radar” for weeks at a time and continue to carry US passports, a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press said.
The assessment was written by staff working for US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a Democrat.
“Al-Qaeda’s recruitment tactics also have changed,” Kerry wrote in an introduction to the report. “The group seeks to recruit American citizens to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States.”
Al-Qaeda forces in Yemen have emerged in recent months as a pressing threat to US security, with ties to a recent airline bombing plot and the shooting deaths of 13 people at the US Army’s Fort Hood post.
At the UN in New York, the UN Security Council committee that handles sanctions against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen branch of the international terror network, announced that the organization and two of its leaders would be subject to binding international sanctions, including freezes on assets and an international travel ban.
The travel ban means the two men, Nasir al-Wahishi and Said al-Shihri, would be subject to arrest anywhere in the world. The US Treasury also has imposed domestic sanctions against the Yemen organization and the two men.
The White House and Pentagon have said they have no plans to send ground troops there, and Yemen has made clear it would not want them. Remaining options would include covert strikes against al-Qaeda targets and increased aid to help train and equip Yemen’s own security forces.
General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command whose command territory includes Yemen, has said he would like to double military aid to that country, which currently is receiving about US$67 million.
Kerry’s report was expected to set the stage for a public hearing yesterday on Yemen with testimony from senior State Department officials.
In addition to its finding that al-Qaeda was trying actively to attract “nontraditional followers” who could penetrate US security, the staff report concludes that al-Qaeda has remained a viable threat.
“Despite setbacks, al-Qaeda is not on the run,” the report said.
Kerry’s staff also cites as many as 10 non-Yemeni Americans, in addition to the nearly three dozen prisoners, who moved to Yemen, became Islamic fundamentalists and married Yemeni women to remain in the country.
“Described by one American official as ‘blond-haired, blue eyed-types,’ these individuals fit a profile of Americans whom al-Qaeda has sought to recruit over the past several years,” the report said.
Tuesday’s action at the UN was the latest of several against AQAP and the two officials. The organization has claimed responsibility for numerous terror acts targeting Saudi Arabia, Korea, Yemen and the US since its inception in January last year.
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