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Nasir Al-Wahishi, al-Qaida’s
No. 2 leader and head of
its Yemen branch, killed in
US strike
spilling 13 people about 50 feet onto the
pavement. Six people were killed and seven
seriously injured.
Police and fire and building officials
were working to figure out why the roughly
5-by-10-foot concrete-floor balcony broke
loose from the side of the stucco apartment
building, situated a couple of blocks from
the campus of the University of California,
Berkeley.
High school student Jason Biswas’ family
nearby was awakened by the noise.
Asked by Matt Lauer if she is an “an Af-
rican-American woman,” Dolezal said: “I
identify as black.”
Dolezal’s career as a civil rights activist in
the Pacific Northwest crumbled in the past
few days.
She resigned Monday as president of
the Spokane, Washington, branch of the
NAACP, lost her position as a part-time Af-
rican studies instructor at a local university,
was fired as a freelance newspaper colum-
nist and is being investigated by the city
Ethics Commission over wheth-
er she lied about her race on her
application when she landed an
appointment to Spokane’s police
oversight board.
(AP PHOTO/JEFF CHIU)
CAIRO (AP) — A U.S. airstrike has killed
al-Qaida’s second-most-powerful figure, the
head of its Yemeni branch, dealing the terror
network its biggest blow since the killing of
Osama bin Laden at a time when it is vying
with the Islamic State group for the mantle
of global jihad.
Nasir al-Wahishi was the lat-
est in a series of senior figures
from al-Qaida’s powerful Yemeni
branch eliminated by U.S. drone
attacks over the past five months,
including its top ideologue and a
Delegation including
senior military commander. The
U.S. has intensified its campaign,
Yemen’s Houthi rebels
trying to push back the group as it
arrives for Geneva
has captured new territory in Ye-
talks after delay in
men by taking advantage of the
southern Arabian nation’s chronic
Djibouti
chaos.
GENEVA (AP) — Fighting in
In confirming the killing of
Yemen raged on Tuesday, with
al-Wahishi in a June 9 drone attack,
dozens reported killed even as the
the White House said Tuesday that
country’s Shiite Houthi rebels ar-
his death “removes from the battle- A crew begins work on the Library Gardens apartment rived in Geneva for U.N.-brokered
building balcony below the remaining wood from
field an experienced terrorist lead-
peace talks. U.N. figures reported
abalcony that collapsed in Berkeley, Calif., Wednes-
er and brings us closer to degrad-
an increasing number of civilians
ing and ultimately defeating these day, June 17, 2015. The balcony broke loose from the killed in a conflict that is showing
building during a 21st birthday party early Tuesday,
groups.”
little sign of abating.
killing several people and seriously injuring others.
The U.S. activity against al-Qa-
The Geneva talks are aimed at
ida has not been limited to Yemen.
ending months of fighting that
Over the weekend, a U.S. air-
prompted a Saudi-led coalition to
strike in Libya targeted an al-Qa-
launch an air campaign against the
“They thought there was an earthquake,
ida-linked militant commander, Mokhtar
but then we looked out the window and saw Houthis and their allies nearly three months
Belmokhtar, who led a 2013 attack on an Al-
seven or eight people on the ground,” the ago. Still, neither side has shown desire to
gerian gas complex that killed 35 hostages,
16-year-old said. “There were piles of blood compromise even as dozens died in renewed
including several Americans. U.S. officials
fighting in the southern city of Aden.
everywhere.”
are still trying to confirm whether he was
Following initial meetings with the U.N.
Five of the dead were 21-year-olds from
killed in the raid.
Ireland who were in the country on so- envoy, delegate Ghaleb Mutlak said that the
Al-Wahishi was a former aide to bin Lad-
called J-1 visas that enable young people to rebels are trying to achieve a truce for the
en who, after the al-Qaida affiliate in Saudi
work and travel in the U.S. over the sum- Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and that
Arabia was crushed in the mid-2000s, re-
mer, while the sixth victim was from Cali- their delegation is willing to stay in Switzer-
built it in his Yemeni homeland and turned
land as long as it takes to end the bloodshed.
fornia, authorities said.
it into the terror network’s most dangerous
branch. He also served as deputy to Ayman
al-Zawahri, who succeeded bin Laden in Ex-NAACP leader Rachel
2011 as the network’s leader. The U.S. had Dolezal says she identifies
put a bounty of up to $10 million on al-Wa-
as black, drew self with
hishi.
U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh
Ahmed said nothing will be settled unless
the two sides can be persuaded to sit down
together, but that just getting them both to
Geneva was a “great achievement.”
“We should not underestimate the signifi-
cance of this event,” he told reporters after
meeting with the Houthi delegation. “It is
the important start toward the return to a po-
litical process. Let us be realistic, it will be a
difficult path, but the important issue is that
we start addressing the crisis.”
Hunt for escaped
murderers near NY prison
hindered by cool, rainy
weather on 11th day
DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) — Search
teams hindered by cool, rainy weather
combed through woods for an 11th day try-
ing to track down two escaped murderers
on Tuesday as one official raised doubts the
escapees relied solely on a now-jailed pris-
on worker to help them get away after their
breakout.
More than 800 law enforcement offi-
cers who are searching for convicts David
Sweat and Richard Matt shifted their focus
eastward along Route 374 leading from the
village of Dannemora, home of the Clinton
Correctional Facility, in far northern New
York.
State police said Tuesday the manhunt
will be expanded beyond where it’s been
most intense, 16 square miles of woods,
fields and swamps around a road where
search dogs caught the scent of both men
and searchers found evidence indicating
they may have spent time there.
Clinton County Sheriff David Favro said
rain has been washing away any scent dogs
might find and interfering with thermal im-
aging devices being used to detect body
heat.
See BRIEFS on page 10
brown crayon at 5
6 killed in California
balcony collapse; victims
mostly college students
from Ireland
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — A 21st-birth-
day party thrown by a group of visiting Irish
college students turned tragic early Tues-
day when the fifth-floor balcony they were
crowded on collapsed with a sharp crack,
NEW YORK (AP) — The NAACP chap-
ter president who resigned after her parents
said she is white said Tuesday that she start-
ed identifying as black around age 5, when
she drew self-portraits with a brown crayon,
and she “takes exception” to the contention
she tried to deceive people.
Rachel Dolezal said on NBC’s “Today”
show that some of the discussion about her
has been “viciously inhumane.”
June 17, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 9