Yemen's Foreign Minister Abubakr al Qirbi said on Tuesday there could be up to 300 al Qaeda militants in his country, some of whom may be planning attacks on Western targets. "Of course there are a number of al Qaeda operatives in Yemen and some of their leaders. We realise this danger," he told BBC radio. "And they may actually plan for attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit."
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for Friday's attempted bombing of a Delta Airlines plane as it approached Detroit. Asked to specify the exact number of al Qaeda operatives, Qirbi replied: "I can't give you really an exact figure. There are maybe hundreds of them: 200, 300 - I don't have real (hard) figures."
Qirbi called for proper intelligence-sharing to stop al Qaeda suspects from travelling to Yemen from countries known to be hotbeds of militancy such as Afghanistan and Iraq. He appealed for more help from the international community to train and equip counter-terrorist forces to neutralise them.
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