State Deparment slaps financial sanctions, travel ban on top al-Qaida leaders in Yemen

US slaps sanctions on al-Qaida leaders in Yemen

WASHINGTON — The State Department is levying financial sanctions on leaders of the Yemen-based al-Qaida group that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has approved sanctions that include a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo against Qasim al-Raimi, who threatened more attacks against America.

A top military commander for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Raimi warned Americans in an online magazine in February that his group “will blow up the earth from below your feet.”

State also targeted Nayif al-Qahtani, who manages the terror group’s operations in Yemen.

The group has openly targeted U.S. and other Western interests in Yemen and abroad.