Elbaneh, Jaber A. (1966–)

Jaber A. Elbaneh is a Yemeni-born American Muslim who was accused by the United States of being involved with the “Buffalo Six,” or “Lackawanna Six.” The Lackawanna Six were a group of young men of Yemeni descent from Lackawanna, a Buffalo, New York, suburb, who sought out and received training from al Qaeda in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001 and then returned to the United States. Elbaneh, however, chose to stay with al Qaeda and was later imprisoned in Yemen for terrorist activities.

Elbaneh's family immigrated to the United States from Yemen and settled in Lackawanna when he was a child. As an adult, Elbaneh married and had seven children. Along with the “Six,” he is believed to have been recruited by Kemal Derwish, an al Qaeda operative who was subsequently killed in a 2002 U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Elbaneh is thought to have played a crucial role in financing the cell's May 2001 trip to Afghanistan to receive training. Elbaneh flew with his fellow Lackawanna residents to Karachi, Pakistan, and met with Derwish. Several weeks later, Elbaneh and his companions, along with 20 other recruits, arrived at the al Farouq training camp, an al Qaeda facility near Kandahar. The training at al Farouq included weaponry and military tactics. Early in their training, Osama bin Laden visited al Farouq and gave a speech about the alliance between al Qaeda and its mission.

While the other members of the Lackawanna cell became disenchanted with the rigors of training and were reluctant to fight, Elbaneh's commitment to jihad seemed to have been strengthened during his training. One after the other, the members of the Lackawanna cell made their way back to the United States, reportedly intending to sever their ties to al Qaeda. Only Elbaneh chose to stay. He moved to Yemen and is thought to have been part of the cell that bombed the Limburg, a French oil tanker, on October 6, 2002. The attack was planned by Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who had also planned the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

A criminal complaint unsealed in the United States in 2003 revealed that Elbaneh was wanted for providing material support to al Qaeda. In 2002, before he was charged for participation in the Limburg attack, Elbaneh was arrested by the Yemeni authorities. However, Yemen and the United States did not have an extradition treaty in place, and negotiations bore no fruit. Elbaneh was housed in Yemen's national security jail along with other al Qaeda members, and he was among two dozen inmates who escaped from the prison on February 3, 2006. The escape was led by Jamal al Badawi, an al Qaeda operative who was part of the cell responsible for the attack on the Cole. In 2007 a Yemeni court convicted Elbaneh in absentia for the Limburg attack and for other attacks on oil installations; the court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He turned himself in to the Yemeni authorities in December 2007 and was imprisoned in 2008.

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