President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters that the United States and the United Arab Emirates provided him with information that identified the woman as a suspect. He said security forces had surrounded the house where the woman had taken refuge. A police officer later said the woman had been arrested.

Earlier, the government strongly criticized the media coverage of Friday’s continents-wide alert that intended “to drag Yemen's name in the mire." “No UPS cargo planes left Yemen for other countries in the last days and there are no direct flights from Yemen to the United Kingdom or the United States," an official source told Saba News Agency. He was responding to reports that British and Emirati officials had found packages containing explosives on planes that originated in Yemen.

The source said security measures at Yemeni airports are tight and the authorities thoroughly check passengers and luggage. “Yemen has recently installed a state-of-the-art scrutiny system that can detect dangerous or suspicious materials."

He said Yemen has launched an investigation into the allegations and is coordinating with the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the US over the issue.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that the bomb found on a US-bound cargo plane in Britain is believed to have been designed to explode on the plane. Dubai's police have described the other device as a parcel bomb.

"We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place," Cameron told reporters at his Chequers country residence outside London. "There is no early evidence it was designed to take place over British soil but of course we cannot rule that out," he said after the bomb was found on Friday at Britain's East Midlands airport.

"I've also spoken to President Saleh of Yemen making the point that we have to do even more to crack down and cut out the cancer of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula," he added.

In Washington, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said he has called Saleh to make clear that the US is ready to help the Yemeni government in the fight against Al-Qaeda. Brennan also expressed appreciation for the work of Yemen's security forces.

France, meanwhile, suspended air freight from Yemen. "Following the discovery on two planes of suspect parcels from Yemen, and the launch of an international alert by the US authorities," France's civil aviation authority (DGAC) had called on "all air companies to suspend all loading of freight cargo from Yemen," said a DGAC statement.