Yemen is to establish security zones in three provinces in an effort to track down members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network who are believed to be regularly on the move, a newspaper in Sanaa said Thursday.
"The interior ministry decided to establish 13 security zones in Maareb, Shabwa and al-Jawf to reinforce police control in these three provinces," near Saudi Arabia, said the army-run newspaper 26 September.
A Yemeni police official, requesting anonymity, told AFP news agency that "authorities are chasing suspects in these three provinces, but they are constantly on the move, sometimes in regions very difficult to access."
At the request of Washington, police and army forces began in late 2001 tracking down suspected members of the al-Qaeda terror network in the provinces, especially those known to have spent time in Afghanistan in the past three years, and many arrests were made.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh also decided to create a National Security Agency to combat terrorism and espionage, and support the work of the intelligence services. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
