US searches for explosives in Yemen

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There are dramatic new developments in the global terror threat.

The United States right now is frantically looking for elusive explosives in Yemen, as personnel at the U.S. embassy have fled the country.

Meanwhile, hundreds of terrorists have been busted out of prisons in several Muslim countries.

Are they ready to join in what officials worry could be a new of attacks?

The speck in the sky over Yemen's capital Tuesday was a U.S. government airplane, loaded down with sophisticated reconnaissance gear.

As American intelligence races the clock, they've been scouring the streets below, for any sign of an attack they fear might happen, as early as Wednesday.

"It was buzzing over Sanaa for at least five hours, then it was a break for maybe two hours, then it was back again," said Iona Craig, a freelance journalist.

Meanwhile, another plane took flight over Yemen, this one carrying all but the most essential American personnel out, evacuating them from the country.

U.S. intelligence is bracing for an attack on the embassy there or other western targets with explosive laden trucks.

At the center of the threat is a Yemeni national named Nasir al Wuhayshi; he's the terrorist linked to the underwear bomb plot to bring down a U.S. airliner in Detroit.

"This group is fairly ingenious, fairly bold, eager to cause damage," said Daniel Benjamin, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, State Department.

On their wish list is to surgically implant small bombs into the bodies of al Qaeda members, who then would blow themselves up.

And in recent weeks, their army has grown.

Heavily armed militants have been staging jailbreaks across the region, freeing 500 prisoners in Iraq, more than a thousand from a jail in Libya, and close to 250 from a prison in Pakistan.

Many of them are members of al Qaeda.

"It's possible they could be suicide bombers, it's possible they could become combatants. Some of them may have capabilities in terms of bomb making which is always a concern," said Michael Chertoff, the Former Director of Homeland Security.

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