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Yemen captures 8 more al-Qaida militants planning oil attacks: ministry

11 July 2010 03:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Yemen said on Saturday it captured eight more militants suspected to be members of an al-Qaida cell planning suicide bomb attacks on Yemeni oil and economic vital facilities in southeast of the country, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

The Defense Ministry said security forces managed to track and arrest eight more militants suspected to be members of the al-Qaida cell which was raided on Monday in Fuh area, west of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramout.

"Two members of the al-Qaida cell had been detained during the security raid on the militants’ hideout on last Monday while another eight suspected members of the cell were captured later during the past four days," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

"The security services have monitored the movement of those elements and have arrested altogether ten members of them until now as an all-out manhunt is underway to comb the area to arrest the rest," the statement cited unidentified security source as saying.

On July 5, the Defense Ministry said security forces captured two members of an al-Qaida cell in Mukalla and was tracking the rest of the group who managed to escape the security siege.
The ministry said later the documents seized in the terrorist den revealed the al-Qaida group was plotting suicide bomb attacks on the security headquarters and economic and oil vital facilities in Hadramout province.
It also identified that a Saudi wanted man "Abdullah Faraj Mohammed Mahmoud Lujoubar" was among the group who were arrested during the raids.
Besides the resurgence of al-Qaida militancy, Yemen is also trying to curb the rising voices in the south calling for disengagement from the north as well as to cement a ceasefire deal that was signed with northern Shiite rebels in February.