WASHINGTON, Feb 15, (AFP): Western agents have launched a massive manhunt for English speakers who trained in Yemen with the Nigerian Christmas Day bomb suspect and are planning attacks on the US, a report said Monday. Would-be jet bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly told FBI interrogators he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen run by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Washington Times, a newspaper in the US capital known to have good sources in the intelligence community, quoted three US intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” an unnamed official told the Times.

The report said the information was believed to be a factor behind congressional testimony on February 2 by the most senior US intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.
The top officials said that al-Qaeda was sure to mount an attack on the United States in the next three to six months.
Blair was asked about the prospects of al-Qaeda striking over that period. “The chances of an attempted attack are certain. They’re going to try,” he told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called in an Internet audio message in early February for more US targets to be hit around the world.
Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines plane with 289 people on board as it approached Detroit on December 25.
FBI agents interrogated Abdulmutallab for 50 minutes after he was arrested on Christmas Day, but for the next five weeks he refused to share information before relenting after relatives visited him from Nigeria, the Times reported.
Meanwhile, Yemeni Shiite rebels handed over on Monday the first of five Saudi soldiers held captive since their three-month border war, amid efforts to consolidate a four-day-old ceasefire with the Sanaa government.
“The Saudi soldier, Yahya Abdullah al-Khuzai, was handed over today (Monday) in the city of Saada to mediators,” working on implementing the truce, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam told AFP by telephone.
“This is a humanitarian gesture to ease tension. The other side (Saudis) should work now to end the prisoners issue,” he said, adding that Khuzai had a leg injury.
A mediator confirmed the release and told AFP that efforts were under way to “release the other four captives within hours.”
The official Saudi news agency SPA, meanwhile, said the prisoner was evacuated by helicopter to Sanaa where he was handed over to the kingdom’s embassy, and would soon be flown home.
The mediator, who requested anonymity, said the rebels were “convinced” during lengthy talks “to leave the question of their prisoners taken by the Saudis, numbering 31, to the Yemeni authorities to follow up.”
The rebels complained on Sunday that Saudi Arabia was refusing to release the prisoners it is holding in exchange for the five soldiers.
The truce, which came into force late on Thursday, continued to hold on Monday and joint mediation commissions were meeting to implement its terms, both sides said.
Though the fighting has stopped, casualties in the north continue to mount.
Seven people  — two soldiers, three rebels and two civilians  — were killed on Monday when an anti-tank mine exploded under a demining vehicle in Al-Iqab, south of Saada city, local sources said.
On Sunday, 13 Yemeni soldiers died when a military helicopter evacuating wounded servicemen crashed in the northern mountains, the defence ministry said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday welcomed the ceasefire but expressed concern for the plight of the 250,000 people who have fled six years of fighting between the rebels and the Yemeni army.
“We understand that a mediation commission representing all parties is monitoring compliance with the terms of the ceasefire and beginning the urgent process of reconciliation and reconstruction needed to bring this conflict to a permanent end,” she said.
“The United States remains concerned about the humanitarian situation in the area, including the approximately 250,000 Yemenis displaced by the fighting.
“To assist displaced Yemenis, the United States has thus far provided 19.3 million dollars during fiscal years 2009 and 2010. We urge other donor nations to support international relief agencies.”