Washington (Sunatimes) The CIA has announced that Yemen based Al-Qaeda has closer ties with Al-Shabaab militias in Somalia.

U.S. counter-terrorism officials told Los Angeles Times that they gathered the information from a Somali militant who was captured en route from Yemen to Somalia and interrogated aboard a U.S. warship before being arraigned in New York on terrorism charges this month.

According to a newly developed American intelligence, Al-Qaeda’s powerful branch in Yemen has provided weapons, fighters and training with explosives over the last year to Al-Shabaab militia group battling for power in Somalia, urging members of the hard-line Al-Shabaab militia to attack targets outside Africa.

The CIA also gained other information when Somali authorities allowed them to interview Al-Shabaab militants held in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, saying that they asked about the militants’ ability to launch attacks outside Somalia as well as the group’s command structure.

By Faduma Farah Ali