Al-qaida linked group planning attacks
Yemeni security forces uncovered evidence that attacks were planned against foreign targets when they arrested five people suspected of links to the al-Qaida terror network, an official said today.
He said six other members of the cell are still at large, and at least one is thought to be hiding in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. They are also believed to be connected to al-Qaida.
The arrests – made over the last two weeks – have led to information about planned attacks against Western targets, including assaults against embassies and assassination attempts, the official said. He did not elaborate.
Yemeni Interior Minister Rashad al-Eleimi met the ambassadors of Britain, the US, Germany, France, Italy and Spain to ask them to warn their citizens.
The five were arrested when a police patrol stopped their car in the capital San’a. The five – two Syrian men, a Yemeni woman, and two Yemeni men – had computer disks that contained plans of attacks on western targets, including embassies and officials, the official said.
Yemen, a target for suicide bombings and other attacks in the past three years, has been an active participant in the US led war on terror, cracking down on Islamic extremists and agreeing to allow the FBI to open an office.
The country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula – the ancestral home of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden – has also been co-operating with Saudi Arabia to stop the flow of suspects and arms through the porous borders.
