The man behind al Qaeda's first attack on the US is now reportedly working as an official in Yemen.
In the 1980's, Jamal al-Nahdi fought the Soviets in Afghanistan.
He was later recruited by Osama bin Laden in 1992 to conduct a pair of bombings in Somalia, which would target U.S. troops who were deployed for Operation Restore Hope, the Washington Times reports.
Nahdi had reportedly planned a pair of simultaneous bombings on the Aden Movenpick hotel and at a resort hotel, the Gold Mohur after he was tipped off by his sources about the Marines stay there.
The attacks, however, could not take place as Nahdi accidentally blew off one of his hands trying to set the charge for at the Movenpick hotel, and he planted his other bomb in the wrong location- but two people were still killed in the botched strike, the report adds.
An investigation by Buzzfeed probes that while Nahdi claims to have switched allegiances, his hiring raises questions as to the extent that jihadis and al Qaeda sympathizers have infiltrated Yemen's security services at the same time the U.S. has been pouring millions into the country in an effort to combat the terrorist group.
The former terrorist was reluctant to discuss his past with the media outlet for the story, saying that he is now a colonel in the Interior Ministry and was appointed as an assistant to the director of security for [Yemen's major sea port of] Mukalla.
