|
Yemen holds security talk with top US general
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen's president met a top U.S. general on Saturday to discuss boosting military cooperation, after President Barack Obama tied al-Qaeda's regional arm to the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger jet.U.S. General David Petraeus met Saleh for talks focusing on strengthening security, military and economic cooperation, an official said. Petraeus, who heads the U.S. Central Command, also handed over a letter from Obama. Details of the letter were not released but on Friday Obama said al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, had trained, equipped and directed the Nigerian who tried to bomb the flight heading for the U.S. city of Detroit. U.S. officials have said they were looking at ways to expand military and intelligence cooperation with Yemen, the poorest Arab state, to root out al-Qaeda leadership in the country. The Yemeni government dispatched security forces and army to the eastern provinces of Abyan, Bayda and Shabwa, hideouts of al-Qaeda, while the alert level was raised, according to security sources in Marib, east of Sanaa. "These measures are part of operations to hunt down elements of al-Qaeda, prevent any attempt of a response after the raids, and tighten the noose around extremists," one of the sources said. Yemen said its forces killed more than 60 suspected Islamic militants belonging to Al-Qaeda in operations on December 17 and 24 in the country's central and Sanaa regions. Posted by: Fred 2010-01-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=287025 |