Extremism 'behind terrorist attacks'

Sana'a: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said that religious extremism was behind the recent terrorist attacks in his country.

"What happened in Hudhrmout, Sana'a, and Mareb was a result of the extremist and irresponsible religious discourse that calls everyone infidels and considers all moderates hypocrites," Saleh said, during an address to about 500 mosque speakers in a meeting held in Sana'a on Wednesday.

The meeting, which was organised by the ruling party, called for the rejection of extremism and fanaticism and for mosque speakers to be kept away from politics.

They demanded the government issue a law banning mosques speakers from being affiliated to any political party. The largest Islamist opposition party controls a lot of the country's major mosques.

Arrested

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said that about 40 Al Qaida suspects have been arrested since July when a suicide bomber attacked a security camp in Sayoun killing himself and two other guards.

The security officials said yesterday that about 30 Al Qaida suspects were arrested in Hudhrmout where two cells of Al Qaida were dismantled. The cells were planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia according to officials' statements.

The officials also said they had obtained important information from investigations with members of the two dismantled cells in Hudhrmout. The information will help them find and arrest leading members of Al Qaida such as Nasser Al Wahaishi and Qasem Al Raimi who are believed to be hiding in the desert provinces of Mareb, Al Jawf and Shabwa.