Dozens of al-Qaeda militants are hiding out in a remote mountainous area of Yemen, a senior official said in comments published Sunday, as President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged them to lay down their arms.
Al-Qaeda fighters, among them Saudis and Egyptians, have streamed in from Afghanistan and have joined local members of the jihadist network in lairs carved out in the rugged Kour mountain in southern Shabwa province, said provincial governor Ali Hasan al-Ahmadi.
"There are dozens of Saudi and Egyptian al-Qaeda militants who came to the province," Ahmadi told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily.
"This is in addition to Yemenis who came from Marib and Abyan (provinces) and a number of militants from Shabwa province itself," he added.
Among them, he added, are the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Nasser al-Wahishi, his number two, Saeed Ali al-Shehri, a Saudi, and radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi.
The Egyptians and Saudis, Ahmadi said, had travelled to Yemen from Afghanistan.
Claim botched attack
AQAP group has claimed it was behind the botched Christmas Day bomb attack onboard a U.S. airliner, while Yemeni officials have said the would-be bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had been in contact with Awlaqi.
The United States has accused the al-Qaeda branch in Yemen of training Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a Northwest Airline flight before it landed in Detroit, but was overpowered by passengers.
It has also accused Awlaqi of instigating "terrorism" and has said he had links with the man suspected of shooting dead 13 people at a Texas military base in November, Major Nidal Hasan.
President Saleh, meanwhile, said he is prepared to hold talks with the militants if they turn their backs on violence.
"If al-Qaeda (militants) lay down their arms, renounce violence and terrorism and return to wisdom, we are prepared to deal with them," Saleh told Abu Dhabi TV in an interview carried by Yemen’s Saba news agency on Sunday.
But the president, whose country is also facing a Shiite rebellion in the north and a movement for autonomy in the south, stressed the government will crack down heavily on those who resort to violence.
"They are a threat not only to Yemen but also to international peace and security, particularly al-Qaeda. They are ignorant, drug dealers and illiterate. They have no relation with Islam," he said.
"Impressive victories"
Saleh said security forces and air force have achieved "impressive victories" against al-Qaeda in the provinces of Abyan, Shabwa and the capital Sanaa.
Yemeni security forces insist they are winning the war against the jihadists, pointing to two separate air raids in December that killed more than 60 suspected al-Qaeda members.
On Wednesday, Yemeni officials announced the capture of key Qaeda leader Mohammed al-Hanq and two other militants believed behind threats against Western interests in Sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days.
Yemen insists it can win the war against the militants without U.S. military intervention, but analysts fear Osama bin Laden’s ancestral homeland cannot tackle the jihadists on its own.
Policemen wounded
Meanwhile at least three policemen were wounded in clashes with south Yemen opposition members during a general strike to protest government "oppression", a security official said.
"The three policemen were wounded in Dhale city. The three assailants are known to us and security forces are chasing them," the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
He said the assailants are members of the southern separatist movement.
The general strike was called to protest what southern separatists termed government oppression as well as action taken against a daily newspaper, activists and witnesses said.
Abdo al-Maatari, one of the leaders of the separatist movement in the south, said the half-day protest was against "central government oppression."
He had vowed the action would be peaceful.
"This protest confirms that we are adopting civilized and peaceful means with regards to the issue of the south. It is a practical response to those who tried to link our movement with al-Qaeda," he told AFP.
The council of the so-called "Peaceful Revolution of the South" said in a website statement that the strike was in response to "repeated central government attacks." It said the strike would continue until midday Sunday.