MUHAMMAD HAMDI AL-AHDAL
Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal was born in Saudi Arabia in 1971. In the mid 90s’ Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal fought in Bosnia and Chechnya where he was wounded and lost a part of his leg.
Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal visited in 1998-9 several times in Afghanistan. He played a role in the group’s finances, weapons smuggling and operational planning, probably with full coordination with Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal was well-connected to other extremists in the entire Arab peninsula.
In 1999 Muhammad al-Ahdal was arrested in Saudi Arabia for 14 months because of his illegal activities. When he was released in 2000 Saudi authority expelled Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal to Yemen, where he quickly associated to Abu Ali al-Harthi and local Al Qaeda activity in Yemen.
In the summer of 2001, after the USS Cole attack, , Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal along with Abu Ali al-Harthi – the USS Cole bombing ringleader, moved to the village of al-Hosun in the Yemeni province of Marib, the mountainous area east of the capital Sanaa.
In 12/2001 a Yemeni Special forces squad located the trail of the two fugitives and raided the village of al-Hosun. The assault on al-Hosun ended in a bloodbath, with the death of 18 soldiers and six tribesmen. Both suspects: Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal and Abu Ali al-Harthi, got away.
After the Limburg Attack on 10/06/2002, Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal took responsibility on an audiotape broadcasted in the web under the name Abu Assem al-Makky.
Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal surrendered to security forces, on 11/25/2003, after they surrounded his hideout west of Sanaa. In his investigation Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal admitted that he received more than 500,000$ from sources out of Yemen to fund terror attacks inside the Arab nations.
Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal was charged on 02/14/2006 for his role in the killing of 18 Yemeni soldiers in the al-Hosun battle in 12/2001 alongside his depute Ghaleb Abdullah al-Zayedi. Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal charges did not mention the USS Cole attack or the Limburg attack.
On 04/18/2006 Muhammad Hamdi al-Ahdal was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment and is today (07/2007) in Yemeni jail.
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