Yemeni intelligence thwarts 13 \'terrorist plots\'

The Yemeni army has fought back militants from the restive south Yemeni authorities have uncovered at least 13 al-Qaeda plots to target foreign diplomats, embassies and senior military and government officials in the capital of Sanaa and other cities, security officials revealed on Sunday.
President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi on Sunday met the heads of National Security and Political Security, the two Yemeni intelligence services, Yemen\'s state-run news agency SABA reported.
According to SABA, National Security chief Mohammed al-Ansi and Political Security head Ghaleb Al-Qamesh presented a detailed on the arrest of a number of sleeper militant cells, including one responsible for the deaths of 96 soldiers killed by a suicide attacker during a military parade rehearsal on May 21.
 Al-Ansi and al-Qamesh said the arrests had managed to stop 10 \"terrorist plots\" in Sanaa and two in Aden.
Officials said the authorities were tipped off by the captured al-Qaeda members. The sleeper cells were reportedly plotting a string of assassinations, bombings and abductions of foreign diplomats in the capital, as well as cities in troubled southern Yemen.
Al-Ansi revealed on Thursday that Yemeni authorities arrested the militant cell which killed and injured hundreds of soldiers in a parade rehearsal in the capital Sanaa on May 21.
Al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincided with its being attacked under a US-backed offensive in the southern Abyan province.
The extremist militant group is trying to hit back after a two-month Yemeni military offensive drove the militants out of several main strongholds in the south. Al-Qaeda took advantage of internal turmoil and a security vacuum to capture parts of southern Yemen during last year\'s uprising, when Yemenis took to the streets demanding the ouster of longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Since he took power in February, Hadi has worked on purging the Yemeni army of Saleh loyalists and regime members. At the same time he ordered an all-out offensive against al-Qaeda in the south.
Hadi urged security bodies to remain vigilant in combating militants, who are \"attempting to take revenge for their defeat in Abyan and Shabwa governorates\".
On Sunday, the militants tried to seize the small town of al-Awabel in Daleh province, about 100km (60 miles) north of the southern port of Aden, according to military officials. One soldier and two militants were killed in the fighting as troops backed by tribal gunmen repelled the militant assault. Nine al-Qaeda-linked militants were captured.
The battles occurred in the Shib district between the security personnel of a local checkpoint and militants who were boarding a bus, a Yemeni defence ministry report said.
\"The forces and pro-government fighters wanted the suspected militants to surrender, but they refused and opened fire injuring a citizen and forcing the security and others to respond,\" the report added.
The Yemeni offensive in the south is supported by US military advisers from a command center manned by dozens of US troops in the al-Annad air base near Abyan province, the main conflict zone.
The US considers al-Qaeda\'s Yemen branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), to be the extremist network\'s most dangerous offshoot.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been blamed for directing a string of unsuccessful bomb plots against the US. Two months ago, the CIA thwarted a plot to down a US-bound airliner using a new, sophisticated explosive to be hidden in the bomber\'s underwear. The planned bomber was actually a double agent who turned the device over to the US government.