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Yemeni authorities enhance security in case of al-Qaida attack on LNG company

20 April 2012 00:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Yemen’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday it has beefed up security around Yemeni Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Company in the southern province of Shabwa after receiving intelligence about possible al-Qaida attacks, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The ministry ordered to beef up security measures around the LNG Company and its establishments in Belhaf district after it received intelligence that the al-Qaida network has prepared to launch suicide bombing attacks against the facility in Shabwa," it said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

"Six car bombs are now moving towards the southern part of the LNG company in Belhaf," the ministry quoted intelligence information as saying.

"The ministry ordered the security services in Shabwa to remain on high alert to confront any potential terrorist attack," it said.

Last month, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for bombing a main LNG pipeline in Shabwa that halted gas flow from oil-rich Marib province to an export terminal on the Arabian Sea.

Earlier in the day, the LNG company led by French oil giant Total said in a statement that it expects to complete repairing the pipelines on Friday.

"The LNG company had to cancel six cargoes of liquefied natural gas exports due to the attack on March 30, but all cargoes will be loaded in May," state-run Saba news agency quoted the LNG statement as saying.

The pipeline was attacked for several times during the one-year unrest in Yemen. In October 2011, al-Qaida militants fired rockets at the pipeline that transports gas from central Marib province to an export port on the Arabian Sea which caused temporary halt of gas export in the impoverished country.