An Al Qaeda operative convicted of masterminding the 2000 USS Cole bombing in Yemen that killed 17 American soldiers, has surrendered to authorities in Yemen after escaping in 2006.

Jamal Mohammed al-Badawi surrendered on October 16, 2007, as a result of negotiations between Yemeni authorities and Al Qaeda militants, according to Yemeni authorities.  Badawi was one of 22 prisoners, mostly Al Qaeda operatives, who escaped from a Sanaa jail in February 2006, where he was serving a 15-year sentence for his role in the Cole bombing.

A federal grand jury in Manhattan also indicted Badawi in May 2003, for the USS Cole bombing and the attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans.  In February 2006, after his escape, the FBI added Badawi on the U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists and offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

Badawi was sentenced to death in Yemen in 2004 (a sentence later commuted to 15 years in prison). One of his co-conspirators, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashri, is in U.S. custody and was tried in absentia and sentenced to death in Yemen as well.   

Authorities are still searching for two other escapees – Kassem al-Raimi and Nasser al-Wehaishi – who are considered top Al Qaeda militants.  Yemeni authorities have accused these fugitives of masterminding a July 2 suicide bombing in Marib, which killed 8 Spanish tourists and two local drivers.

Badawi previously escaped from prison in April 2003 and was recaptured in March 2004.