Yemeni court sentences 2 al Qaeda members to death

San`a (Yemen): A Yemeni court has convicted
two al Qaeda militants for killing senior police and army
officers and sentenced them to death.

Wednesday`s swift trial was held in the capital San`a and
took place without attorneys for the defendants.

Dressed in blue jumpsuits, 23-year-old Mubarak
el-Shabawni and 18-year-old Mansour Salem denounced the
verdict and shouted `God is Great` afterwards.

Arrested in December, the two militants were convicted
for carrying out attacks in 2009, including one that claimed
the lives of top Yemeni intelligence officials in the south.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has
strong al Qaeda presence, which the government has struggled
to confront.

PTI