Yemeni forces launch attack on al-Qaeda operatives

Yemeni forces, backed by the United States, launched an attack Thursday on a meeting of al-Qaeda operatives where a Yemeni American preacher linked to the suspected gunman in the Fort Hood attacks might have been present, U.S. and Yemeni officials said.

The strike on an alleged al-Qaeda hideout in southeastern Yemen killed at least 30 suspected militants and was the second such assault in the past week, according to Yemeni security and government sources. One of the possible meeting participants was Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen and extremist preacher who exchanged e-mails with the Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 13 people at the Fort Hood Army base.

In a statement, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington said that Aulaqi was believed to be attending a meeting of senior al-Qaeda leaders, including the network’s regional leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, and his deputy, Said al-Shihri, a Saudi national and former detainee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Source: Washington Post