A Scotland Yard team is in Yemen to gather information about two Islamists who lived in the country and are now based in Britain, a government source said Wednesday.
The three-man delegation has met several security officials since arriving in the capital of Sanaa last Saturday to inquire about Abu Hamza al-Masri and Yasser al-Sirri, the source said.
The British police officers "are trying to determine if the London-based Islamist pair are linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network," a Western diplomat told AFP.
Sanaa accuses Abu Hamza al-Masri of involvement in the 1998 kidnapping of foreigners in Yemen and has demanded his extradition from Britain.
The Egyptian-born Abu Hamza, who holds British citizenship, is also allegedly linked to an extremist group calling itself the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army.
Washington has demanded the extradition of Sirri, an Egyptian who runs an Islamist rights watchdog body in London and lived in Yemen between the years 1988 and 1993, on suspicion that he collected funds for the al-Qaeda network. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
