Yemenis foil explosives plot

Yemen has foiled a plot by an al-Qaeda-linked cell to carry out attacks inside the capital Sanaa and seized 40 belts packed with explosives, the city’s mayor said yesterday.

The defence ministry said seven militants had also been detained in the southern town of Jaar, where a suicide bomber killed 45 tribal fighters earlier this week and threatened further attacks on a bigger scale.

Yemen declared victory in June over militants calling themselves Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), following a US-backed military campaign that drove the fighters from their strongholds in the southern province of Abyan.