Yemen detained dozens of suspected al Qaeda supporters on Sunday, following the killing of two Belgian tourists and their Yemeni drivers in the east of the impoverished country, an official said.Friday's attack came less than a week after al Qaeda's wing in Yemen vowed to carry out unspecified operations to win the release of jailed Islamic militants. Yemeni officials have not ruled out al Qaeda involvement in the shooting and are searching for the attackers though no one has claimed responsibility for the shooting near Shibam, famous for its old towers, in the Hadramout region. The arrests were made in Hadramout and the nearby Maarib and Shebwa areas.
The bodies of the two Belgian women were sent home late on Saturday for burial, the official said.
In July, a suicide bombing killed seven Spanish tourists and wounded six at the Queen of Sheba Temple.
Yemen, which joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism after al Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, has often been the site of militant attacks and kidnappings by disgruntled tribesmen. The ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Yemen is viewed in the West as a haven for Islamic militants. In an Internet posting last week, al Qaeda's wing in Yemen vowed to free its prisoners from the country's jails and retaliate for the killings of militants by the government. Officials said last year that July's attack had been preceded by an al Qaeda demand for the release of jailed comrades.