Yemen said on Friday it was holding a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who killed a hospital guard last week, and a U.S. firm said the suspect had worked at nuclear reactors in New Jersey.
Sharif Mobley was among 11 al Qaeda suspects arrested in the Yemeni capital in early March, a Yemeni government source told Reuters. Another Yemen official said authorities had "unconfirmed suspicions" he had links to a Nigerian man who was behind a December 25 bomb attempt on a U.S.-bound plane.
A U.S. company which owns several nuclear power plants said Mobley, 26, worked at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear reactors in New Jersey and other reactors in the area.
The company, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, said in a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Mobley worked as a laborer from 2002 to 2008, mainly during refueling outages for several weeks at a time.
He did routine labor work carrying supplies and assisting maintenance activities. U.S. officials were in the process of reviewing his activities in the United States, one law enforcement official said.
"At this time, we are not aware of any security-related concerns or incidents related to Mr. Mobley's employment at these locations. However we continue to review his past activities," said the official, who did not want to be named.
The official said that the U.S. government had been aware of him "for some time."
The Yemeni government source told Reuters that Mobley was the al Qaeda suspect who started a gunbattle at a hospital in Sanaa last week in a bid to escape detention.
He was recaptured, but not before killing one person and wounding several others.