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Security: Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the attempted destruction of Flight 253 were released from Guantanamo two years ago. The case for indefinite detention has been made once again, and not in Illinois. Sometimes America's chickens do come home to roost. In a statement released Monday, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which counts among its leadership two former Guantanamo detainees, claimed responsibility for the attempted destruction of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the crotch bomber, told FBI agents he was trained for his Christmas Day mission in Yemen by top leaders of the group who provided...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two men released from the US "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported. One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP. Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.

Saleh Al Oufi is regarded as even more dangerous than former Saudi Al Qaeda leader Moqurin who in the weeks before his death carried out an aggressive campaign of kidnappings and murder against westerners in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He worked as a guard in the prison at Medina, where he was fired for misconduct in 1992. Al Oufi traveled to Afghanistan and joined Al Qaeda shortly after being fired, an indication that he had contacts with the group before leaving his prision group.In Afghanistan, he met the men who would later be his comrades in a Saudi terror...

Following last week's beheading of Paul Johnson, the US hostage held in Saudi Arabia, the authorities in Riyadh promised to tighten security to deal with the mounting terrorist threat. Shortly afterwards, al-Qaeda's local leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin was shot dead by Saudi security forces – an apparent sign of success for the government's campaign against Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. But al-Qaeda was quick to respond, announcing on Monday – via a Saudi-owner newspaper based in London – that 38-year-old Saudi nation Saleh Mohammad al-Oufi has been appointed to take over the local leadership of the group in Saudi Arabia....

A former sergeant in the Saudi security forces has been appointed head of al-Qaida in the kingdom after the death of Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin, the previous leader, in a gun battle on Friday. Paying tribute to Muqrin for "having prepared sincere men from among the combatants to succeed him and carry on the jihad", an internet statement signed by "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" named the terror group's new commander as Salih al-Oufi. Oufi, 38, was allegedly among the 19 militants who started a wave of attacks just over a year ago with the bombing of housing compounds in Riyadh...

SALEH, EX-COP, NEW AL-QAEDA LEADER IN SAUDI MIL Date : JUN 22, 2004 Riyadh – Al-Qaeda leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who was killed in Riyadh in a gunshoot by the Security Forces, has been replaced by an ex-Saudi Police Officer Saleh Mohammad al-Oufi. He shall be the new chief of Al-Qaeda network on the Arabian Peninsula according to Arab Media. Saleh is within 36-38 and holds the position as number 4 among the most wanted militants in Saudi Arabia. He was once Police Officer, born in Medina and joined the terrorist group in Afghanistan. Since he was wounded in Bosnia,...