Sanaa: Yemen's foreign minister has
warned that al-Qaeda threats should be taken seriously, after
a top militant said the network's local branch aims to seize
control of a strategic international waterway.
"Any threats by a terrorist group should be taken
seriously" and all necessary security measures taken, Abu Bakr
al-Kurbi said late yesterday, according to the defence
ministry news website.
Yemeni forces will protect the country's territorial
waters, the foreign minister said, adding that the "security
authorities have proved themselves capable of doing so."
Kurbi said "al-Qaeda endangers not just the security
of Yemen but also the world's security and peace."
On Monday, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's number
two, Said al-Shihri, said an aim of the group was to seize
control of the Bab al-Mandab strait linking the Gulf of Aden
and Red Sea, and called for cooperation between his AQAP and
the Somali militant group Al-Shebab.
He also urged attacks on "American and Crusader
interests" around the globe.
The Bab al-Mandab strait is used by 30 percent of
world trade, as it serves as a channel between the
Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.
Yemen's interior ministry on Tuesday dismissed
Shihri's threats, saying that security forces will "track
terrorist elements throughout Yemen, around the clock."
Twelve Yemen soldiers, 24 rebels killed in clashes
Twelve Yemeni soldiers and 24
Shiite rebels were killed in clashes despite the announcement
of an imminent accord to end six months of fighting, a
military official said today.
Five soldiers and 13 rebels were killed in heavy
clashes late yesterday in Amran province north of Sanaa, the
official told agency.
He said the fighting had erupted in the area of Burkat
al-Shamsi following a sudden attack by the Zaidi Shiite
rebels, known also as Huthis.
Separate clashes broke out late on Wednesday in the
Al-Uqab suburb of Saada town, farther north, killing seven
soldiers and 11 rebels.
A Yemeni official said on Wednesday that the
government was close to reaching a deal with the rebels after
they agreed to six government conditions.
On Saturday, Sanaa set a timetable for the rebels to
implement its terms for a ceasefire in the six-year-old
uprising in the northern mountains, where fighting escalated
after the army launched an all-out offensive in August.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis form the
majority community in the north but are a minority in mainly
Sunni Yemen. President Ali Abdullah Saleh is himself a Zaidi.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010, 18:31