Shariff Mobley, American Muslim, picked up in Yemen and now being held at a hospital after fighting with Yemenese police, joins the growing list of Americans who are linked with Al-Qaida.  For the record, he is a suspect.

The New York Daily News reports:

A New Jersey man charged in Yemen as an Al Qaeda member worked at nuclear power plants in the U.S., officials said Thursday.

Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old American native of Somali heritage, was arrested in Yemen this month in a roundup of suspected Al Qaeda members.

He was being treated at a hospital in San’a when he killed one guard and wounded another in an escape attempt, officials said.

Before Mobley moved to Yemen two years ago, ostensibly to learn Arabic and study the Koran, he worked for several contractors at three nuclear power plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, PSE&G Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar said.

Hot Air says:

But did AQ intend to attack nuclear power plants in the US with Mobley as its point person?  Fox News reports that their sources in “law enforcement” don’t see a link between his work before leaving the country and whatever AQ had in mind when it sent him back.  It could just be coincidental, as a trip toYemen to study Islam and Arabic would almost certainly have raised red flags in a recertification process.  Mobley may have been more valuable in supplying intel on security procedures rather than as a terrorist attacker.

The list of Americans involved or charged with being involved with Al-Qaida are so far:

Gadahn, Al-Awalki, Hammami, Hasan, Zazi, Lindh, Boyd, and LaRose.

Sharif Mobley is the latest example of what anti-terrorism experts fear is a growing trend: the radicalization of American Muslims who join overseas terrorist groups.

Yemeni groups are of special concern, as are Somali-Americans.

The Al Qaeda branch in Yemen was linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner. Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in the Fort Hood shooting spree, exchanged e-mails with an extremist cleric in Yemen.