Report: Ex-Gitmo detainee joins al-Qaida in Yemen

[January 23, 2009]  CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- An Internet posting purportedly by al-Qaida in Yemen says the group's No. 2 is a Saudi national who is a former Guantanamo detainee.

The Yemeni group -- known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" -- posted the statement this week on a militant Web site that regularly carries al-Qaida messages.

It says the man returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba about a year ago and from there went to Yemen to join the terror group.

The Internet statement identified the man as Said Ali al-Shihri and says his prisoner number at Guantanamo was 372.

The posting could not immediately be verified, and Yemen and Saudi Arabian authorities would not immediately comment on it.

[Associated Press]

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