Yemen is holding five of 17 men named in an FBI terrorism alert released this week and has provided the United States with information about them, Yemeni and US officials said. The five Yemeni nationals, who trained in Afghanistan, were already in custody at the time the list was released on Monday having been arrested between late last year and early this year, Yemeni officials said.
A police official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, would not immediately confirm the names of those being held, nor would he elaborate on when the men were in Afghanistan or when they returned to Yemen.
An official close to Yemeni anti-terrorism investigators said only that Yemeni authorities informed their American counterparts that the five were in Yemeni custody and provided the Americans with information about them.
Yemen's government admits there may be Al Qaeda suspects in the country, but says the network has no military training camps or any other organised presence.
Bureau Report