* Air strikes came after Yemen beefed up security in Sanaa
* Increased security prompted by reports of planned car
bombs
* U.S. maintain “extremely high” level security threat
(Adds death count over past few days)
By Mohammed Ghobari and Mohammed Mukhashaf
SANAA/ADEN, April 5 (Reuters) – At least 10 suspected
militants were killed in air strikes in southern Yemen on
Thursday, and authorities reinforced security at foreign
missions and government sites in Sanaa over warnings of a
possible al Qaeda attack in the capital.
A local official in southern Abyan province, partly
controlled by an al Qaeda-linked group, said Yemeni warplanes
launched two strikes at Islamist targets in the village of Umm
al-Jabalayn, near the militant stronghold city of Jaar.
The official said at least 10 militants were killed in the
attack. Jaar residents said they saw members of the group, Ansar
al-Sharia, bringing bodies back to the city for burial.
In a text message, a group which identified itself as Ansar
al-Sharia denied any of its militants were killed in the strike.
But the Ministry of Interior said on its website the number
of militants killed during a campaign by the country’s military
and security forces over the past few days was over 100.
The reported strike is near an area where Ansar al-Sharia
last week said it killed at least 20 Yemeni soldiers.
In Sanaa, Reuters witnesses said paramilitary Central
Security Service personnel had been deployed across the capital,
especially in the diplomatic quarter in the south of the city.
Suspect cars were being stopped at makeshift checkpoint.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement it had ordered
heightened security near government buildings and foreign
missions.
“We have received information concerning plans by al Qaeda
to move its operations to Sanaa,” a security official told
Reuters. “We believe it is preparing to carry out these
operations using car bombs any time soon,” he added.
Yemen has a seen a surge in violence in the south since
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in late February,
vowing to fight Islamist militants who expanded their footprint
during political turmoil over the fate of Hadi’s predecessor.
Mass protests aimed at ending the 33-year rule of Ali
Abdullah Saleh, long a key figure in Washington’s fight against
al Qaeda, erupted in early 2011. The protests were compounded by
fighting within an army divided between Saleh’s foes and allies.
Washington, which has indicated it wants to see Hadi reunify
the military to fight the Islamists, backed Saleh’s succession
under a deal engineered by top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which
fears chaos in Yemen could spread across its border.
Most attacks have been concentrated on southern Yemen, where
most of Ansar al-Sharia’s forces are concentrated. In their
deadliest attack yet, militants killed at least 110 soldiers and
took dozens hostage on March 4 in the Abyan provincial capital,
Zinjibar.
The government responded with air strikes and the United
States has repeatedly used drones to attack militants. Last year
it used a CIA drone to assassinate a U.S. citizen whom
prosecutors later said plotted an abortive attack abroad.
In its directive, the Interior Ministry ordered security
forces in Sanaa and surrounding rural areas to step up efforts
to arrest those on its wanted list as well as suspect vehicles.
(Writing by Sami Aboudi Editing by Maria Golovnina)
