Up to 300 al-Qaeda Militants in Yemen

Wednesday, 30 December 2009 04:59

Written by Mohammed Al-Amrani

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SANAA, 29 Dec – Foreign Minister Abu-Baker al-Qirbi said on Tuesday there might be up to 300 al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, adding “some of them might be plotting attacks on Western targets.”  Al-Qirbi who was talking to the British BBC radio said: “There are a number of al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen including some of their leaders and we are aware of their menace,” adding “they might be planning for attacks like the one we just had in Detroit.”  On how many al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, al-Qirbi said “I don’t have a real figure but there are maybe hundreds of them: 200 or 300,” and called for “proper intelligence sharing to prevent al-Qaeda suspects from travelling to Yemen from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.”

He appealed to the international community for more help to train and equip counter-terrorism forces  saying “we need to work in partnership to combat terrorism and if we do that, the problem will be controlled,” adding “there is some support that is coming but I have to say it is not enough.  We need more training, expand our counter-terrorism units and provide them with the necessary military equipment and means of transportation.  We are very short of helicopters.”