Four Islamic Jihad militants arrested [Archives:2003/648/Front Page]

Yemeni security forces arrested Wednesday four militants of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army (AAIA) who had earlier managed to flee the government's military operation in Abyan. A security official said that security forces, in cooperation with military chased those elements in their mopping up operations to arrest the rest of the militants group accused of attacking a military medical convoy. He added that the number of arrested militants rose to 22, pointing out that security forces continued to hunt down for these suspects. The security official said that photos of the wanted suspects had been distributed at all check-points all over the country. Among the wanted are the ten al-Qaeda suspects who had escaped from the intelligence prison in Adan last April; they are accused of blowing up the USS Cole destroyer in October 2000.
He urged the Yemeni citizens to cooperate with the security apparatus and provide them with information that could lead to their arrest. He added that the Cole incident caused serious damage to the economy and reputation of the country.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh praised the operations the security and military forces carried out in the last days against what he called outlaws and perpetrators of terrorist acts. During a meeting with security and military leaders, last Wednesday, president Saleh said that there would be no leniency with the outlaws.
The security forces in Abyan continue to carry out mopping up operation to arrest the rest of the group whose number is around 60 and are still at large.
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