Yemen security forces capture key Qaeda leader
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni security forces, under U.S. pressure to rein in extremists, Wednesday captured a key al-Qaeda leader believed behind threats that saw foreign embassies in Sana'a hastily bolting their doors, police said.
The arrest of Mohammed al-Hanq and two other suspected Al-Qaeda militants at a hospital in Raydah, north of capital, came as Yemen's authorities said al-Qaeda militants were being choked countrywide and forced into "holes."
Hanq had evaded arrest on Monday during a security force raid in Arhab, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Sana'a, in which two of his relatives were killed and three other people wounded
A security official told AFP security forces had Wednesday morning swooped on a hospital in Raydah, 80 kilometers (50 miles), north of Sana'a in Amran province, where the suspects were receiving treatment.
"Mohammed al-Hanq and two others who were wounded were captured in a hospital in Amran," the official said.
Two other al-Qaeda suspects meanwhile turned themselves in to the authorities in the region of Marib, east of Sana'a, on Wednesday, and a third surrendered in Arhab, a security official said.
Posted by: Fred 2010-01-07 |