Yemeni police have uncovered a second al-Qaeda-linked terrorist cell in the south-east of the country, just days after security forces raided an al-Qaeda hideout in the area, the official Saba news agency reported Friday.
The agency quoted a security source as saying that police arrested one member of the group after they raided a tent house outside the Arabian Sea port city of Mukalla, dpa reported.
The source said police also found firearms, explosives, military uniforms in the raided hideout and were continuing their investigation.
Mukalla is the capital of south-eastern Hadhramout province, a desert region where al-Qaeda has recently showed an active presence.
Hadhramout governor Salem al-Khanbashi, said the cell was planning to attack multiple targets in the province.
He said the group was behind a mortar attack that targeted bridge in Mukalla on August 7. No one was hurt in that attack, according to police.
On Monday, police killed five suspected members of al-Qaeda in a raid on a house in Tarim town of Hadhramout. Authorities said the group had plotted terrorist attacks inside the country and in its oil-rich neighbour Saudi Arabia.
Among the suspects killed was Hamza al-Quaiti, a suspected mastermind of several car bomb attacks that hit Yemen in recent years. Two suspects were injured in the firefight and arrested by police. Two police officers were killed in the clash.