SANAA, (Reuters) – Yemeni forces surrounded a suspected al Qaeda regional leader near the capital yesterday and captured three militants wounded in a raid, security sources said.
The Yemeni authorities launched an operation this week to root out al Qaeda militants who they said were behind threats that forced Western embassies to close. The raid allayed U.S. concerns, allowing its heavily fortified mission to reopen.
Yemen, the poorest Arab country, was thrust into the foreground of the U.S.-led war against Islamist militants after a Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda said it was behind a Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said fighting in Yemen was a threat to regional and global stability.
Security sources said Yemeni forces had surrounded an area in Arhab, 60 km (40 miles) northeast of Sanaa, where a suspected al Qaeda commander was believed to be hiding in a house. They said the man was the target of a raid earlier this week.
Local tribal elders were trying to mediate, asking security forces not to launch an assault while they try to persuade the suspect to surrender, a tribal source told Reuters.
Yemen’s heavily armed tribes often try to protect their kin by entering into negotiations with the government to gain their release or favourable treatment.
Three militants wounded in an attack on Monday were arrested on Tuesday after being spotted in a hospital, an official said.
Arhab was one of the regions targeted by government forces with air and artillery strikes last month in operations that a security source said foiled a series of suicide bombings. Two suspected militants died in the December operation in Arhab.
