Iraq jails al-Qaeda chief's widow

29 June 2011 Last updated at 17:17 GMT Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed in a US-Iraqi raid in April 2010 A court in Baghdad has sentenced the widow of al-Qaeda's former Iraq chief to life imprisonment for assisting her husband to carry out suicide attacks.

The woman, who officials identified by her initials WJ, was the wife of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the former head of the Islamic State of Iraq.

Baghdadi was killed in April 2010, along with Abu Ayyub al-Masri, another prominent al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.

Masri's wife was convicted on Thursday, also receiving a life sentence.

'Cover and shelter'

Abdel Sattar al-Beriqdar, spokesman of Iraq's High Council of Justice, said the woman was found guilty of co-operating in terrorist attacks carried out by Baghdadi, including controlling the cash and suicide vests.

"The criminal WJ confessed she participated with her terrorist husband in many armed terrorist operations in different areas in the country," Mr Beriqdar said in a statement.

He also said the life sentence, usually 20-25 years in Iraq, could be appealed.

On Thursday, the court sentenced Hasna Ali Yahya, a mother of three and the Yemeni wife of Masri, an Egyptian.

Mr Beriqdar told Reuters that Yahya was convicted "according to article four of the anti-terrorism law for (providing) cover and shelter to the terrorist group of Abu Ayyub al-Masri."

The two al-Qaeda leaders were killed in a raid on a safe house north of Baghdad by joint US-Iraqi forces, in what was hailed as a significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

At the height of Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, thousands were killed in bomb attacks on markets and mosques carried out by al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

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Yemen 'al-Qaeda inmates' escape

22 June 2011 Last updated at 11:00 GMT Dozens of al-Qaeda militants have escaped from a prison in southern Yemen following an attack, officials say.

They said the inmates fought their way out of the jail in Mukalla as militants attacked the prison from the outside.

At least 40 militants are said to have fled, including some convicted on terrorism charges. But one activist claimed the escape was orchestrated.

Months of unrest in Yemen have led to fears of al-Qaeda's influence spreading.

The country is home to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was blamed for a plot to blow up a US airliner over Detroit in 2009, and sent bombs on cargo planes bound for the US last year.

Unnamed Yemeni officials said one member of the security forces was killed in Wednesday's attack. One official said as many as 62 prisoners had escaped, and that two were rearrested.

A medical source told AFP news agency that two other security personnel had been wounded, and that several militants were also injured.

'Creating chaos'

Mukallla is the capital of Yemen's southern Hadramut province.

A spokesman for civil society organisations in Hadramut, Nasser Bakazzuz, denied there had been an attack, claiming that authorities had allowed al-Qaeda prisoners to leave the prison.

"The regime is living its last days and wants to create chaos in Hadramut province," he told AFP.

Yemen is in the midst of a political crisis following a popular uprising and an elite power struggle.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, was seriously wounded in an attack on his compound earlier this month and is being treated in Saudi Arabia.

The crisis has led to concerns that extremists may try to take advantage of the instability.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, has also been grappling with a separatist movement in the south and a Shia insurrection in the far north.

In 2006, 23 suspected members of al-Qaeda - including some who were convicted for attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 and the French tanker Limburg in 2002 - broke out of a prison in the capital, Sanaa.

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'Al-Qaeda allies killed' in Yemen

19 June 2011 Last updated at 14:54 GMT Yemeni troops have killed 12 suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants near the southern Islamist stronghold of Zinjibar, officials say.

The militants were targeted as they planted roadside bombs, a military official told AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, two soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked an army base in the area, the unnamed official added.

Analysts say al-Qaeda is exploiting a power vacuum left by months of protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

More marches demanding Mr Saleh's resignation were held on Sunday in the capital Sanaa and the restive southern city of Taiz.

Failed mediation

Militants last month wrested Zinjibar - the capital of Abyan province - from government control, which correspondents said suggested a further weakening of the central government's authority.

Massive anti-regime protests have swept across Yemen since February

Mr Saleh, the country's president of nearly 33 years, is in Saudi Arabia for treatment for wounds he suffered in a rocket attack on his compound in Sanaa this month.

Massive anti-regime protests have swept across Yemen since February.

After months of largely peaceful protest, the crisis has escalated in recent weeks, with government forces and heavily-armed tribesman fighting pitched battles in Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) have offered to mediate a peaceful resolution to Yemen's political crisis, but efforts thus far have failed.

Analysts fear that, left unchecked, the worsening security situation could cause the impoverished nation to fall deeper into chaos.

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