Yemeni security forces broken up an 11-member Al-Qaeda cell in the capital Sana'a, the defense ministry's online newspaper reported on Thursday. The suspects, who were arrested over the past few days following intelligence that the group was planning to travel to Iraq, revealed during their interrogation “important information regarding terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda (in Yemen),” the September 26 website reported. Vice-Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs General Rashed Al-Alimi was due to give a press conference to provide more information on the arrests, it said, without giving further details. A Yemeni security official said said that all the detained have connections to Al-Qaida. “Some of the arrested originally wanted to go to Iraq but ended up coming to Yemen because of the strict measures taken by authorities in their country.” Al-Qaeda's wing in Yemen, which calls itself Jund Al-Yemen Brigades, has carried out a series of attacks in recent months targeting the US and Italian embassies and a residential complex which is home to US oil workers. Yemen has battled suspected Al-Qaeda militants at Washington's behest since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. In October 2000, Al-Qaeda militants on a small explosives-packed boat attacked American warship the USS Cole off the southern port of Aden, killing 17 American sailors.
