SANAA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni police have arrested three foreigners in the capital Sanaa for possessing al-Qaida materials, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
The three foreigners, a Bulgarian, a Belgian and a Somali, are aged between 22 and 48, the ministry said in a statement.
"The third person was found to have al-Qaida slogans in his possession and was referred for legal action," the ministry said, adding that the suspects were caught in a joint operation of the police and Shiite Houthi group, whose militants have been in the streets in Sanaa since Friday to secure a Shiite religious ceremony.
The al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in January 2009 and also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, is considered one of the major threats to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
Many foreigners recruited by AQAP have been arrested in recent years in Yemen's southern regions.
Yemen's official Saba news agency said late last month that the authorities had deported more than 300 foreign students from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, the United States, France and some Asian countries, who attended sermons led by extremists while studying at the al-Fayoush Salafi Center in the country's southern Lahj province.
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