Yemeni police nab two Qaeda suspects in Aden

Yemeni security forces arrested two suspected Al-Qaeda members in Aden on Sunday, eight days after a deadly attack on the intelligence services in the southern port city, a security official said.

The two suspected militants were “hiding in a house near the intelligence headquarters” where 19 soldiers were killed in the August 18 rocket attack and suicide bombing which authorities blamed on Qaeda.

“There was an exchange of gunfire during the raid but no one was hurt,” the official said requesting anonymity.

Yemeni security forces have been on heightened alert since the intelligence headquarters attack. Six other suspected militants were arrested on Thursday and Friday.

Qaeda loyalists have carried out a spate of deadly attacks against the Yemeni security forces and their militia allies since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi came to power earlier this year pledging to crush the militants.

Qaeda had taken advantage of a nearly year-long uprising against Hadi’s predecessor, veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, to seize large swathes of the south and east.

In an all-out offensive launched in May, the army retook a string of towns in Abyan province, which neighbors Aden to the east.