Sanaa declared war on al Qaeda last week as pressure mounted on it to crack down on the global militant group after its Yemen-based wing said it was behind an attempt on December 25 to bomb a US-bound passenger plane. "The home of the terrorist Ayed al-Shabwani was targeted in an air raid today, but until now there are no details on the result of the raid," a Yemeni official told Reuters.
It was not known if Shabwani was in his house at time of the strike in Maarib, east of Sanaa. He is accused of sheltering militants on his farm, where training also took place. Shabwani was one of six al Qaeda militants the government had previously said died in an air strike last week. Al Qaeda later denied any of its members had been killed. Separately, Yemeni forces shot dead an al Qaeda fighter who tried to steal a government vehicle, state media reported.
Western powers and neighbouring Saudi Arabia worry Yemen could turn into a failed state and fear al Qaeda could exploit the ensuing chaos to strengthen its foothold in the poorest Arab country and turn it into a launch pad for further attacks. Yemen, hunting al Qaeda in several provinces, is also fighting a northern Shi'ite insurgency and faces separatist sentiment in the south.
Yemen has occasionally been hasty in announcing the deaths of militants. The death of another militant, Anwar al-Awlaki, whom Yemen reported last month might have been killed in an air strike, was never confirmed. Britain suspended direct flights from Yemen as part of a wave of measures to tighten up border security, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, warning that militant cells were actively planning attacks.
"We know that a number of terrorist cells are actively trying to attack Britain and other countries," Brown told parliament. He said Britain had agreed with Yemenia to suspend direct flights to London until security was improved. A Yemenia official told Reuters in Sanaa that British officials had told Yemenia that, if it wants to fly to Britain, flights must first stop in a third country for security checks.