Yemen has deployed new anti-terrorism forces in the country's restive south, the ministry of interior announced Saturday, as Washington urged Sanaa to step up its fight against al Qaeda. The announcement follows a spate of deadly attacks on government and military targets in the south, the latest on Friday when according to a security official a suspected al Qaeda militant shot dead a soldier who ferried him on his motor-bike taxi in Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province.
The Yemeni government is deploying the anti-terrorism units in four southern and south-eastern provinces, Hadramawt, Abyan, Shabwa and Marib, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The creation of these units will "bring the confrontation with the members of the al Qaeda terrorist network to a critical stage" and will "tighten the noose around it," the statement said.
US counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan urged Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday "to emphasise the importance of taking forceful action against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in order to thwart its plans to carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen as well as in other countries," the White House said in a statement. Brennan's comments came a year after a botched attempt to blow up a US passenger plane last Christmas by a Nigerian with Yemeni and AQAP links.