SANAA, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salehon Saturday ordered a reshuffle of the cabinet, the official SABA news agency reported.

    The broad reshuffle covered key posts of the ministers of defense, finance, planning and oil, according to the report.

    Mohammad Nasser replaced Abdullah Ali Elewa as the new defense minister, Ali Saif Mahyoub Al-Aasali took over the post of the finance minister from Alawi Saleh Al-Salami and Khaled Mahfordh Ba-Haj was appointed the new oil minister.

    The planning portfolio went to Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi and Interior Minister Rashid Al-Alimi was given the post of deputy prime minister while retaining his interior portfolio. Prime Minister Abdul Qader Ba Jammal remained head of the government.

    The 33-member new cabinet will be sworn in on Tuesday, said the report, which did not give the reason for the changes. The cabinet reshuffle came about a week after 23 suspected al-Qaida militants escaped from a Yemeni jail in the capital Sanaa on Feb. 3.

    The ancestral homeland of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, Yemen has been fighting against terror-linked militants.The mountainous country is also facing grave economic problems with huge debts and high unemployment. Enditem