Yemen investigates Nigerian's al-Qaida contacts

Administrators, teachers and fellow students at the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language, where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had enrolled to study Arabic, told The Associated Press that he attended school for only the month of Ramadan, which began in late August. That has raised questions about what he did during the rest of his stay, which continued into December.

Abdulmutallab, 23, told U.S. officials after his arrest he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, a law enforcement official has said.

According to Yemeni officials, Abdulmutallab spent another extended period in Yemen, from 2004-2005.

People at the school who knew Abdulmutallab said he was not openly extremist, though he expressed anger over Israel's actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

The possibility that he was involved with militants in Yemen has heightened concerns about the largely lawless country that has become an al-Qaida stronghold. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a group formed in January when operatives from Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged, claimed responsibility Monday for the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner.

Information Minister Hassan al-Lozy suggested the U.S. was partly to blame for Yemen's failure to identify Abdulmutallab as a terror suspect. He told a news conference Washington never shared its suspicions about the man, who was flagged on a watchlist as a possible terrorist.

"We didn't get any notice from the Americans to put this man on a list," al-Lozy said. "America should have told Yemen about this man."

Al-Lozy said Abdulmutallab received a Yemeni visa to study Arabic after authorities were reassured that he had "several visas from a number of countries that we are cooperating with in the fight against terror." He noted that Abdulmutallab had a valid visa to the United States, which he had visited in the past.

"Our investigations are looking into who were the people or parties that were in touch with Umar here," al-Lozy told the AP.

He noted Abdulmutallab frequented a mosque in the old city, but did not say whether there was an al-Qaida link to that mosque.

The minister said Yemen was tightening controls on those seeking student visas to come to Yemen in the wake of Abdulmutallab's case.

The new revelations came a day after the al-Qaida offshoot in Yemen claimed responsibility for the failed attack, saying it was meant "to avenge the American attacks on al-Qaida in Yemen."

Yemeni forces, with U.S. intelligence help, launched two major strikes against al-Qaida this month, reportedly killing at least 64 militants. But the group's reference to the strikes was apparently propaganda because Abdulmutallab bought his ticket to the U.S. on Dec. 16, a day before the first of the two strikes. The second was on Dec. 24, a day before the airliner bombing attempt.

The strikes appear to be the result of heightened U.S.-Yemeni cooperation to wipe out al-Qaida in Yemen. The group, led by Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi, includes several Saudis who have been released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and have attended the kingdom's rehabilitation program designed to reform extremists.

The attempted bombing has raised questions in Congress about President Barack Obama's plans to shut down the Guantanamo facility, nearly half the remaining detainees are from Yemen.

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