SANAA, 14 December 2003 — Yemeni authorities have reported thwarting a plot to attack the British Embassy and other Western interests in Yemen in September, Britain’s ambassador in Sanaa said yesterday.
“Yemen’s Interior Minister Rashad Al-Alimi told us that authorities foiled a plot to attack a number of Western targets, including the British Embassy, in September,” Frances Guy was quoted as saying by AFP.
She said that according to the minister, “the attacks were planned by extremists linked to Al-Qaeda.”
The BBC had reported on Friday that an Al-Qaeda plot to blow up the British Embassy was foiled in September, but the Foreign Office in London did not confirm the story.
The BBC said 20 militants had confessed to planning to crash a truck bomb through the embassy gates after they were caught by Yemeni intelligence.
Asked how serious the threat was to blow up the British Embassy, Guy told the BBC: “I think it was very serious.
“We are very conscious that we are a high-priority target here in Yemen. We try our best on a daily basis to review our security and improve it as much as we can.”
To protect the embassy from car and truck bombings, British officials have placed concrete blocks around the facility as well as implementing other security measures.
13 Corrupt Judges Sacked
The Supreme Judicial Council has fired 13 judges for indulging in corruption, Justice Minister Adnan Al-Jefri said in remarks published yesterday.
“Those judges had cases brought against them by judicial inspectors,” Al-Jefri told the Yemen Observer newspaper.
He said the move was aimed at “correcting the function of the judiciary and ensuring a clean legal system.”
