Al-Qaeda Planned to Capture Yemeni Oil Infrastructure
Local Editor
The reason behind the evacuation of US and UK embassy staff from Yemen on Tuesday was a broad al-Qaeda plan to control the country's oil infrastructure and target Western missions.
The British Foreign Office had said that its diplomats had been "temporarily withdrawn to the UK".
The terrorist threat was discovered when US officials intercepted communiques between al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and leader of Yemeni al-Qaeda Nasser al-Wahishi plotting for a wide-scale attack on Western missions in North Africa and the Middle East.
On this note, a spokesman for the Yemeni authorities was reported as saying they had been able to foil extremist plans to take over a number of key cities, including two ports in the south which are considered vital oil export centers as well as potential strikes on pipelines.
Al-Qaeda had planned to strategically position its members, dressed as soldiers, outside the facilities, and would enact on a given signal a coordinated overthrow of the oil supply infrastructure.
Meanwhile, a security source said dozens of members of al-Qaeda had arrived in the capital of Sana'a recently to hit Western diplomatic missions and state military headquarters with both explosions and suicide attacks.
Moreover, AFP news agency reported that concrete barriers surrounding the British embassy had been extended and reinforced as the capital went into lockdown.
Source: News Agencies, edited by website team
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