SANAA: Yemeni authorities have uncovered a second terrorist cell linked to Al-Qaeda in southeast of the country a few days after security forces raided an Al-Qaeda hide-out in the area, official sources said yesterday.
Police forces arrested one member of the group after they raided a tent house outside the Arabian Sea port city of Mukalla, the state-run Saba news agency quoted a security source as saying.
Mukalla is the capital of southeastern Hadhramout province, a desert region where Al-Qaeda has recently been active. The source said police seized firearms, explosives and military uniforms.
Hadhramout Gov. Salem Al-Khanbashi said the cell was planning to attack multiple targets in the province. He said the group was behind a mortar attack that targeted a bridge in Mukalla on Aug. 7. No one was hurt in that attack, according to police.
On Monday, police killed five suspected members of Al-Qaeda in a raid on a house in Tarim town of Hadhramout. Authorities said the group had plotted terrorist attacks inside the country and in Saudi Arabia.
Among the suspects killed was Hamza Al-Quaiti, a suspected mastermind of several car bomb attacks in Yemen in recent years. Two suspects were injured in the firefight and were arrested by police. Two police officers were killed in the clash.
Police officials told Arab News the latest raid on the hide-out in southern Mukalla suburb of Fouah was carried out after the two detained suspects provided interrogators with information about the Fouah group.
