Sana#39;a, Yemen — Yemen said Sunday that it has arrested the suspected mastermind of the attack on the southern intelligence headquarters, which reportedly freed detainees and left 11 people dead.
The attack Saturday by four gunmen on the heavily protected security complex in the port city of Aden further bolstered U.S. concerns that Yemen’s weak central government may not be up to tackling an increasingly effective foe.
An official statement said the suspect belongs to “terrorist groups” in Yemen and has a criminal record, including a bank robbery last year blamed on al-Qaida.
There was no word on whether any other suspects had been arrested or whether the authorities had recaptured the freed detainees.
The government has yet to comment on the eyewitness accounts of freed detainees.
Yemeni officials said the Saturday attack on the heavily protected security complex in Aden, about 200 miles south of the capital, bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said authorities have arrested 18 suspected members of militant groups since the attack. A sedan used in the attack was also found, the official said.
U.S. concerns over Yemen deepened last December, when al-Qaida-in-the-Arabian-Peninsula claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.
In the wake of the Christmas attack, with U.S. aid, training and intelligence, Yemen’s military and air force have struck repeatedly at al-Qaida sites and suspected hide-outs, and arrested several suspects.
Yemen’s central government is grappling with a number of armed groups aside from al-Qaida, including an increasingly violent southern separatist movement.
On Sunday, gunmen from the southern group ambushed a military convoy, killing two officers in the southern Dali province. It was the latest salvo in an increasingly violent standoff between the government and the southerners, which accuses the north of monopolizing power and discriminating against them.
The ambush is most likely unrelated to an al-Qaida attack.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 06/21/2010