Yemeni Suspect Was Related to Sept. 11 Hijacker

Feb. 14 -- A Yemeni man who blew himself up on Wednesday after local police closed in on him in the Yemeni capital of San'a was related to one of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Details of the suspects ties to terrorism came as Iran arrested 150 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members, according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency.

In Yemen, a source in the office of President Ali Abdullah Saleh told ABCNEWS today that Sameer Mohammed Ahmed al-Hada was the brother-in-law of one of the hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

Yemeni security officials were watching al-Hada in recent times, the source said, because of his known close association with Khalid Almihdhar, a 26-year-old Saudi national who was one of the five hijackers on board United Airlines Flight 93.

According to The Associated Press, al-Hada was also related to one of the 17 men named in an FBI alert issued on Monday, warning of a possible terrorist attack in Yemen or the United States. But a U.S. government source did not provide the man's name.

ABCNEWS also confirmed today that five people on the FBI alert from Monday were already in custody in Yemen.

Al-Hada was the son of Ahmad Mohammad Ali al-Hada, a known al Qaeda operative, a U.S. official told The Associated Press today.

A day after al-Hada's death, U.S. and Yemeni investigators conducted a search of his house and seized two pistols, a mobile phone and other documents, which U.S. and Yemeni investigators were studying.

Suspects Detained After Crossing Border

In Iran today, the Iranian news agency reported that 150 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda infiltrators of Arab and African descent, some of them carrying French, British, Belgian, Spanish and Dutch passports, were detained after they crossed the border from Pakistan.

It said the investigation was launched to look into the identities of the detainees and their possible links to terrorist organizations.

Today's arrests came amid U.S. concerns that Iran was granting refuge to fleeing al Qaeda members. In a January address to the nation, President Bush placed Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, on an "axis of evil," a statement that was roundly condemned by the Iranian government.