In January, Yemen said it carried out a series of air strikes against hideouts of al-Qaida in southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, as well as Arhab district, to the northeast of the capital Sanaa, leaving some 60 militants killed and dozens others arrested.
The AQAP, which said the deadly strikes were conducted by the United States, has claimed responsibility for a foiled Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S. airliner in last December.
According to the statement, al-Qisaimy was one of the gunmen who ambushed and killed three top provincial security officials of the Yemeni Interior Ministry along with their bodyguards in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Nov. 3, 2009. Two days later, AQAP claimed responsibility for that fatal ambush.
Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida world network leader Osama bin Laden, has launched intensified military and security operations against the terrorist group, including a number of air raids, after the group boasted that it was behind the botched attempt to bomb the Detroit-bound passenger plane and threatened to carry out attacks inside the United States.
Sanaa government, which is stepping up efforts to solve a discontent among southern separatist group and implement economic reforms after it ends a six-year fighting with northern Shiite rebels, came under mounting pressure from Washington to turn its focus on fighting al-Qaida affiliated activities within its borders.
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Yemen arrests 11 al-Qaida suspects in Sanaa: ministry
SANAA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni anti-terror forces have captured 11 al-Qaida suspects and killed one man in a raid in the capital city of Sanaa, the country's Defense Ministry reported Thursday.
The ministry said on its website 26sep.net that the security raid was carried out late Wednesday in Sanaa's southern area of Sawad Hanash. Full story
Al-Qaida leader calls for holy war against Western interests
SANAA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula called on Yemeni tribes on Monday to stage jihad, or holy war, against the Western interest and the Yemeni government to revenge recent air raids against their hideouts.
In an audiotape posted on the Internet on Monday, Said Ali al- Shihri said Yemeni tribes have been hit by air strikes of the West "in collaboration with its local agents in the Yemeni government." Full story
