Security forces in Yemen's port of Aden have arrested 30 people during a two day hunt for suspected al-Qaeda operatives behind an attack on a police base.
Yemen has accused al-Qaeda of the attack last Saturday in which militants in army uniforms raided the police intelligence building in Aden, killing seven security officers, three women and a seven-year-old boy, and freeing several detainees.
Security officials said clashes had broken out in the city before dawn yesterday. Police rounded up 30 suspects throughout the day, nine of whom were charged with al-Qaeda links, while the rest were charged with participating in rioting.
The Defence Ministry said security forces had received information from a previously-detained al-Qaeda operative, Ghodel Mohammed Saleh Naji, that those responsible for last week's attack would be holding a meeting yesterday.
All participants in the meeting were held, the Defence Ministry statement said.
Yemen has been a growing security concern for the West since the Yemen-based arm of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to set off a bomb on board a US-bound airliner in December.
Yemen is struggling to curb a separatist movement in the south and cement a ceasefire with Shia rebels in the north. It is under international pressure to quell domestic conflicts to focus on a growing al-Qaeda presence in the country.
A day before last Saturday's attack, al-Qaeda's Yemen-based regional branch threatened to respond to a state crackdown against it in eastern Yemen, calling on local tribesmen to take up arms against the government.