Yemen has sent thousands of security forces to take part in a campaign against al-Qaeda in three provinces, and authorities have detained five suspected fighters from the group, a security source said on Tuesday.
"The campaign is continuing in the capital and in the provinces of Shabwa and Maarib," the source told Reuters, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The manhunt is also going on in the southern province of Abyan.
Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Yemen reopened on Tuesday, an embassy official said, a day after Yemeni forces killed two al-Qaeda militants they said were behind a threat that had forced U.S. and European missions to close.
"We are reopened," a U.S. embassy official said. The embassy had closed on Sunday in response to what it said were al-Qaeda threats and came as concern grew about stability in the poorest Arab country.
The British and French embassies resumed operations but remained closed to the public, diplomats at those embassies said.
Instability in Yemen
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Monday said unrest in Yemen threatens global instability as Washington overhauled its terror watch and "no-fly" blacklists and President Barack Obama prepared to meet with his intelligence and national security chiefs on Tuesday on a foiled attack on a U.S.-bound jet.
"The instability in Yemen is a threat to regional stability and even global stability," Clinton told reporters following talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani.
"And certainly, we know that this is a difficult set of challenges, but they have to be addressed," Clinton said as the U.S. government grappled with the implications of the attempted jetliner bombing linked to an al-Qaeda group in Yemen.
She noted that Washington was working closely with its allies to chart "the best way forward" to address the security concerns.
Long-standing concerns that Yemen has become a haven for Islamic terror groups were thrown into sharp relief when a Nigerian man allegedly trained in Yemen was charged with trying to blow up a jet on Dec. 25.
Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, reportedly confessed to being trained by an al-Qaeda bombmaker in Yemen for the suicide mission on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
It was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man’s underwear failed to detonate, and passengers jumped on him.
Revising procedures
Clinton noted that the State Department was reviewing whether to revise procedures that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the Amsterdam-Detroit flight.
The bombing attempt triggered an overhaul of U.S. terror watch blacklists, adding dozens more suspects to "no-fly" lists.
"Probably thousands upon thousands upon thousands of names were scrubbed, and probably dozens were moved to different lists," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters earlier Monday, referring to the lists which determine whether a person is allowed to board a U.S.-bound flight in a foreign airport.
New rules at international airports also went into effect from early Monday, meaning all passengers boarding U.S.-bound flights may now be subjected to random pat downs and baggage searches.
Further boosting security measures, all travelers coming from or via 14 "terror linked" countries will have to undergo compulsory enhanced screening.
Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are among the 14 countries affected.