Suspected al-Qaida member from US worked at 5 nuclear sites in NJ, Md., Pa.

US terror suspect in Yemen worked at 5 nuke sites

BUENA, N.J. — Federal regulators say a U.S. citizen in custody in Yemen as a suspected al-Qaida member worked at five nuclear plant complexes in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it’s investigating what access Sharif Mobley might have had to senstive areas.

But the commission says laborers like him would not usually be given security-related or sensitive information. Authorities say he passed federal background checks.

The 26-year-old Mobley worked at the Salem and Hope Creek plants in New Jersey; the Peach Bottom, Limerick and Three Mile Island facilities in Pennsylvania; and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland between 2002 and 2008.

Officials say he was rounded up in an al-Qaida sweep and shot two guards in a Yemeni hospital during an escape attempt. His parents say he is innocent.