ANI
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The US government has unsealed papers revealing details of the arrest
and interrogation of a senior terror leader, who was a key commander
for al Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group based in Somalia.Ahmed
Warsame, 25, has been cooperating with U.S. interrogators, revealing
inside details about training, operatives and potential plots, for the
past two years, reports CBS News.
Al Shabaab has attracted dozens of American recruits, including Omar Hammami, a propagandist born in Alabama.
The
court papers revealed that Warsame pleaded guilty to being an
operational link between two terror groups - al Shabaab in Somalia and
al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen.
US military
captured the Somali terror leader in April 2011 in the Gulf of Aden as
he was traveling from Yemen to Somalia. He was carrying extensive files
and handwritten notes about how to build bombs. It was all part of a
terror-exchange program, and Warsame was a broker. He funneled money and
communications gear from Somalia to Yemen in exchange for weapons and
explosives for his Somali fighters.
After his capture, Warsame was held aboard a U.S. ship and secretly interrogated for two months.
In
July 2011, he was flown to New York and appeared before a judge. He
continued to talk to interrogators, repeatedly waiving his rights, as he
laid out more details about al Qaeda operations.
Officials have described the intelligence he provided as "enormously valuable".