Washington, Sept 15: Washington has intensified its hunt for al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, now seen as one of the most troublesome hotspots in the war on terrorism, the Washington Post reported today. "Yemen has become an area of increased interest for US and allied forces," one senior administration official told the daily.
The United States has been particularly determined to track down several high-ranking al Qaeda members who have found safe haven in Yemen's remote tribal areas, Osama bin Laden's ancestral home, according to the newspaper.
Al Qaeda members have found refuge and protection among the militant Islamic chieftains who rule Yemen's forbidding dunes and hill country, according to the Post.

Yemen also has long been viewed by some governments as a possible staging area for militants who would like to overthrow the Saudi royal family.
"It's a very volatile place," said a senior counterintelligence official.
If bin laden is alive, he said, "it's a legitimate place he might go, along with Pakistan."
Over the summer, an al Qaeda suspect in US custody in Afghanistan revealed the names of cell members in Yemen who were amassing a stockpile of plastic explosives, and described their intentions to do harm to American interests in the region. Bureau Report