<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Freed detainee now an Al-Qaeda commander
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - A released Guantanamo Bay terror detainee's re-emergence as an Al-Qaeda commander in Yemen highlights the difficulty US President Barack Obama faces in his efforts to close the detention facility.
A US counter-terror official confirmed last Friday that Said Ali al-Shihri, who was jailed at Guantanamo for six years after his capture in Pakistan, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda.
'By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,' Al-Shihri said in a video posted on a militant-leaning website last Friday.
It was the second time last week that a reference to him was made on the website. He was first mentioned in an online magazine on Jan 19. The report said he was now the top deputy in 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'.
The former detainee was released by the US in 2007 to the Saudi government for rehabilitation.
According to the Pentagon, at least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have 'returned to the fight' and 43 others are suspected of having resumed terrorist activities. AP
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - A released Guantanamo Bay terror detainee's re-emergence as an Al-Qaeda commander in Yemen highlights the difficulty US President Barack Obama faces in his efforts to close the detention facility.
A US counter-terror official confirmed last Friday that Said Ali al-Shihri, who was jailed at Guantanamo for six years after his capture in Pakistan, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda.
'By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,' Al-Shihri said in a video posted on a militant-leaning website last Friday.
It was the second time last week that a reference to him was made on the website. He was first mentioned in an online magazine on Jan 19. The report said he was now the top deputy in 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'.
The former detainee was released by the US in 2007 to the Saudi government for rehabilitation.
According to the Pentagon, at least 18 former Guantanamo detainees have 'returned to the fight' and 43 others are suspected of having resumed terrorist activities. AP