Yemeni forces storm al-Qaida hide-out, arrest one

Yemeni security forces stormed an al-Qaida hide-out today in a principal militant stronghold in the country's west, setting off clashes, officials said, as a security chief vowed to fight the group's powerful local branch until it was eliminated.

Yemeni security forces stormed an al-Qaida hide-out today in a principal militant stronghold in the country's west, setting off clashes, officials said, as a security chief vowed to fight the group's powerful local branch until it was eliminated.

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A government statement said at least one suspected al-Qaida member was arrested during the fighting in Hudaydah province. The province, along Yemen's Red Sea coast, was home to most of the assailants in a bombing and shooting attack outside the US Embassy in 2008 that killed 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians.

"The (Interior) Ministry will continue tracking down al-Qaida terrorists and will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated," said Deputy Interior Minister Brig Gen Saleh al-Zawari.

He was speaking to senior military officials at a meeting in Mareb, one of three provinces where al-Qaida militants are believed to have taken shelter.

The group's growing presence in Yemen, an impoverished and lawless country on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has drawn attention with the attempted attack on a US airliner on Friday.

US investigators say the Nigerian suspect in the attack told them that he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.