SANAA: Yemeni police have arrested 10 suspects after Friday’s car bomb attack on a police compound that killed an officer and wounded 18, security officials said yesterday.
The arrests were made in the southern province of Abyan earlier this week, according to Lt. Col. Saleh Al-Shamsi, deputy superintendent of Abyan police.
He said police forces had initiated a wide-scale search for members of extremist groups believed to have links to strings of bombings against police and government facilities in Abyan in the past few months.
Al-Shamsi would not say whether any of the detained suspects was linked to Friday’s attack against a police compound in the neighboring Hadhramout province.
A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden sedan into the entrance of the police complex in Sayoun. A policeman was killed and 18 others, including seven women, were injured.
Police officials in Sanaa said yesterday that security forces launched a massive manhunt after 12 suspected Al-Qaeda members were linked to the attack.
The manhunt is under way in the provinces of Shabwa, Abyan and Marib, where Al-Qaeda has an active presence, the officials said in remarks published by state media.
They said among the wanted suspects was Saudi national Muhammad bin Nayif Al-Qahtani, who is also wanted by Saudi authorities on terrorism charges.
An Al-Qaeda wing in Yemen on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for the killing of five Al-Qaeda members by Yemeni police.
Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for three recent car bomb attacks in Yemen, including the July 2007 attack on a tourist convoy in the central province of Marib that killed eight Spanish tourists.
Journalist’s jailing
A Yemeni appeal court yesterday refused to release a journalist whose jailing for allegedly backing rebels has drawn US criticism.
The court put off looking into the demand for the release of Abdel Karim Al-Khiwani until the defense team presents its arguments at the next hearing on Nov. 9, presiding judge Mohammad Al-Hakimi said.
Khiwani, who was jailed for six years, was one of 12 people handed prison terms of one to 10 years by a court in Sanaa on June 9 after they were convicted of forming an armed group and killing two security officers in support of Zaidi rebels.
Yesterday’s hearing was the first after defense lawyers appealed against the verdicts.
