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Yemeni Forces Clash with al-Qaida Militants

   Government  troops  reportedly  attack  'terrorist network' in western
   Hudaydah province, capturing one and wounding several others

     30 December 2009
   Yemen map

Photo: CIA

   Yemeni  security  officials  say  forces  have  clashed  with al-Qaida
   militants in western Hudaydah province.
   Security  officials  say  government  forces  were  on an operation to
   capture al-Qaida militants in the Deir Jaber region. They say at least
   one suspected militant was captured and several others were wounded in
   the clashes.
   Earlier  this week, a group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula
   said  it  was  behind  the  attempted  Christmas Day bombing of a U.S.
   passenger  plane  on  December  25.   The  group  issued  an  Internet
   statement  saying  the  attack  was in retaliation for U.S. support of
   operations against al-Qaida militants in Yemen.
   Yemen  has been intensifying its campaign against rebels and suspected
   al-Qaida terrorists, conducting a series of airstrikes and other raids
   that it says resulted in militant deaths and arrests.
   U.S. intelligence officials and experts say al-Qaida has been building
   a base in Yemen in recent years.
   They say the terrorist network sees Yemen as a new front in its global
   ambitions,  rivaling  its current base in the lawless Afghan-Pakistani
   border region.
   Yemen is the ancestral home of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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