(New York Times) - The trackless, desolate sands of the vast Arabian desert known as the Empty Quarter are being scoured by pilotless U.S. surveillance aircraft looking for signs of al Qaeda operatives among the nomadic tribes there. "They are basically looking for movement within the desert, unusual movement, of cars and so forth," said Abubaker al-Qirbi, Yemen's foreign minister. After the Pentagon dispatched Special Forces trainers to teach the Yemenis counterterrorism techniques, some 400 Yemeni soldiers have now been deployed at more than 12 bases near the Saudi border.
2002-10-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive