Sanaa, February 11: Yemen’s foreign minister has warned that Al-Qaeda threats should be taken seriously, after a top militant said the network’s local branch aims to seize control of a strategic international waterway.
“Any threats by a terrorist group should be taken seriously” and all necessary security measures taken, Abu Bakr al-Kurbi said late on Wednesday, according to the defence ministry news website 26Sep.net.
Yemeni forces will protect the country’s territorial waters, the foreign minister said, adding that the “security authorities have proved themselves capable of doing so.”
On Monday, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s number two, Said al-Shihri, said an aim of the group was to seize control of the Bab al-Mandab strait linking the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.
He also urged attacks on “American and Crusader interests” around the globe.
The Bab al-Mandab strait is used by 30 percent of world trade, as it serves as a channel between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.
Yemen’s interior said on Tuesday dismissed Shihri’s threats, saying that security forces will “track terrorist elements throughout Yemen, around the clock.”
—Agencies