Saudi Arabia and Yemen to swap 13 terrorism suspects

Yemen and Saudi Arabia yesterday agreed to exchange the detainees wanted by authorities in the two countries on terrorism charges, official sources here said.

"The total number of detainees to be extradited is 13, including eight suspects Saudi Arabia will extradite to Yemen, while Yemen will extradite five to the kingdom," the sources said.

The move comes within the framework of the security cooperation between the two countries and in implementation of the joint security agreement, which stipulated extradition of suspects wanted by security authorities in both countries.

The official praised the level of cooperation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

This comes only four days after the two countries declared their determination to enhance cooperation to fight terror in a joint statement in the concluding session of their Coordination Council held in Sanaa on July 5.

Meanwhile, Yemen's Deputy Minister of Interior Mutahar Rashad Al Mesri said that six more Al Qaida suspects have been arrested this week in the two governorates of Abyan and Lahj, south of the country.

With this the number of terrorists arrested so far rose to 27 in addition to the six killed, including their leader Khaled Abdul Nabai, ever since the army stormed the hideouts of Al Qaida suspects last month, according to Al Mesri.

Some of these detained, he added, were leading people in the terrorist group of Hatat, and some others were already convicted of crimes.

The army troops in cooperation with the counter-terrorism Special Forces are still searching for the remaining terrorist elements, the security official said.

He voiced his confidence in the capabilities of the security forces to arrest the suspects within the next few days.

He denied the reports that the terrorist elements regrouped themselves and returned to the mountainous area of Hatat once again after the troops stopped the hunt.

The security forces will keep tracking the terrorists, he added.