SANAA | Tue Jun 19, 2012
(Reuters) - Yemen has foiled a
plot to attack foreign embassies in the capital Sanaa, a police source said on
Tuesday, days after the army drove al Qaeda-linked militants from their
strongholds in the south of the country.
The source said police in Sanaa had stopped a vehicle carrying three
people who had weapons, explosives and maps with foreign embassies and the
homes of military and civilian figures marked out.
"The preliminary investigations showed that the group was planning
to target foreign interests," said the source.
Yemeni troops last week regained control of several towns in the
southern province of Abyan, which Islamist militants had seized last year
during political upheaval that eventually toppled former President Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
But the assassination of a top southern military commander in the port
city of Aden on Monday showed the militants are still capable of carrying out
attacks and highlighted the tenuous grip of Yemen's central authorities on the
restive south.
Militant group Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) threatened to
spread the fight across Yemen after it was forced out of Abyan. The Interior
Ministry said it had beefed up security in response.
The United States is increasingly concerned about the apparent strength
of militancy in Yemen and has backed the Yemeni army with training,
intelligence and increased aid. It has also used unmanned drones to target and
kill suspected members of al Qaeda.
In May, a rogue soldier recruited by al Qaeda blew himself up in the
middle of a military parade rehearsal in Sanaa, killing nearly 100 people.
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