SANAA, Yemen, July 6 (UPI) -- A security source denied Thursday the reported capture of runaway al-Qaida leader in Yemen, Jamal Badawi.
The source said in a statement published Thursday in official newspapers that the news about recapturing Badawi, who had escaped from Sanaa's main prison with 22 other al-Qaida members last February, are untrue.
"In case Badawi is captured, this will be announced officially because there is no reason to hide it," the source said.
The opposition Yemen's Children League Party quoted security sources in the southeastern province of Hadramout as saying Wednesday that security forces captured Badawi in the area five days ago before he was transferred to Sanaa amid strict security measures.
The party said on its Web site that the official authorities are keeping silent about the operation for security reasons.
The sources refused to give details about the operation which they described as an intelligence maneuver, noting that security agents intercepted and monitored Badawi, who was found hiding in a house in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout.
There was no information about a possible intelligence contribution by the United States in tracing Badawi, the main suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden in October 2000 in which 17 U.S. servicemen were killed.
Washington has offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture of Badawi, regarded as one of the most dangerous al-Qaida operatives in Yemen and the mastermind of most terrorist attacks against foreign interests in the poor Arab Gulf country.
U.S. intelligence reports suggested recently that Badawi might lead al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, succeeding Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed in a U.S. air raid near Baghdad last month.
In September 2005, a special criminal court sentenced Badawi to death, but an appeal court reduced the sentence to 15 years in prison.
