Yemen Al Qaida group planned to carry out terrorist acts with Saudi members

Sana'a: The Al Qaida group whose seven members were killed and arrested earlier this week were planning and coordinating with Saudi Al Qaida members to carry out terrorist acts in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Yemeni officials said on Thursday.

"The documents and the confiscated objects found in the house of the terrorist group have shown that there were plans and coordination between the terrorist Al Qaida group captured in Tareem in Hadhramout province and other Al Qaida elements in Saudi Arabia. They wanted to carry out terrorist and sabotage acts against economic, oil, tourist and vital installations in Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," an unidentified security official told a state-run weekly.

Last Monday, five Al Qaida members were killed and two others injured and arrested in a hunt down security operation in Aideed area, Tareem, Hadhramout east of the country.

The alleged leader of Al Qaida in Hadhramout and the mastermind behind almost all terrorist acts over the last two years, Hamza Al Quaity was killed in that operation which was described by the government as a victory over Al Qaida.

Among the documents found in the house of the seven-member group, there were two passports belonging to two Saudi nationals. The passports belong to Badah Bin Mufehes Bin Badah Al Qah'tani and Waleed Bin Radhi Bin Sameelil Al Otaibi.

One day after the Tareem operation, the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh talked over the phone with the Saudi officials and briefed them on the terrorists plans.

The Saudi deputy minister of interior visited Yemen yesterday and met with President Saleh and senior security officials with whom he discussed the "security cooperation and efforts of combating terrorism," the official news agency Saba reported.

The agency also said that the Saudi official praised the efforts exerted by the Yemeni security forces to thwart the terrorist plans to strike Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi official praised the efforts exerted by the Yemeni security forces to thwart terrorist plans.