SANAA, Yemen — The Yemeni wing of al-Qaida, in a statement published yesterday on an Islamic Web site, vowed to attack the United States to avenge the 2002 killing of its leader by a CIA drone aircraft.
The statement, which could not be authenticated, said Osama bin Laden's network had over the past year prepared a "devastating and crushing blow in the United States that will happen soon" in retaliation for the death of Ali al-Harthi, who was killed by a missile the pilotless CIA aircraft fired at his car in eastern Yemen.