Army foils al-Qaida plot in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen, June 5 (UPI) -- Yemeni security officers said the army thwarted an al-Qaida plot to seize Attaq in a push to establish militant control over a wider area.

With the military and the tribes pushing to regain control of both Jaar and Zinjibar, two towns in Abyan province that fell to al-Qaida last year, high ranking military officers told the Yemen Forum newspaper Tuesday the terror group was trying to spread out and open new fronts in neighboring provinces.

In Abyan, where clashes involving tribes and al-Qaida militants were ongoing, officers from the Republican Guards called for the dissolution of tribal militias, Mareb Press reported. Gen. Ahmed Ali Saleh -- former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son -- predicted militias would turn on the state and support the southern secessionist movement.

Elsewhere, authorities reported an explosion near the ministries of Transport and Finance in Sanaa, Mareb Press reported. Preliminary reports pointed toward an accident rather than a terror attack, officials said.