Three armed al Qaeda militants were captured in Yemen early Saturday, close to the Saudi Arabian border, a Yemeni security source said. The militants had weapons, explosives and leaflets with them, the source said, asking not to be named. On Friday, six al Qaeda militants were killed in an air strike in northern Yemen in a stepped-up government campaign against the Islamist group.

Yemen, which gained a reputation as a haven for al Qaeda after the September 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. Yemen stepped up its operations against al Qaeda after a Yemen-based wing of the group said it was behind an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound US airliner on December 25.

Copyright Reuters, 2010