18 January 2010 / REUTERS, SANAA
Yemen has boosted security at energy installations to guard against militant attacks, a government official said on Sunday, as Sanaa escalated its war against al-Qaeda.
“The security measures have been strengthened for some time. But we took additional measures around oil institutions and the gas project in Shabwa,” the official told Reuters, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. He said the measures were put in place “in case of any terrorist attacks.” Other security officials said the heightened security had been put in place on Saturday, a day after an air strike in northern Yemen killed six al-Qaeda militants. Yemen, which gained a reputation as a haven for al-Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, came under the spotlight after crackdowns on the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan raised concern it was becoming a training and recruiting centre for militants. The Yemen wing of the global militant network, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has strongholds in Yemen’s eastern province of Hadramaut and the towns of Maarib and Shabwa, where oil and gas fields of major international companies are located.
