The U.S. has recently requested Yemen to hand over the most wanted suspects Jaber Al-Bana'a and Anwar Al-Awlaki, sources with knowledge about the meetings of FBI Director with Yemeni officials have said.
The sources noted that Robert Mueller, Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, informed Yemeni officials, during his visit to the country last week, that his country wants the two suspects to be extradited.
On the visit, Mueller also submitted a U.S. suggestion to transfer the Yemeni detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay to a third country to rehabilitate them.
The U.S. accuses Al-Awlaki, who is currently fugitive, of involvement in the shooting at the army base in Texas in late last year in which 13 people, including 12 soldiers, were killed and 30 others were injured.
Jaber Al-Bana'a is, according to the U.S. authorities, the main suspect in attacking the U.S. Cole Destroyer in the Gulf of Aden in 2000. 17 soldiers were killed and 38 others were wounded in the attack.