14 Qaeda suspects surrender
Yemeni medical student Hanan al-Samawi, 22, arrives with her father at Sanaa University to attend a ceremony held in her honour yesterday, one day after her release by police who had arrested her over an alleged al-Qaeda plot that sparked a global air cargo alert last week after being tracked down through a mobile number written on the explosives-filled packages. A senior Yemeni security official told AFP that only one parcel had been sent by a woman who "impersonated" Samawi and put the student's phone number on the receipt.Photo: AFP
Fourteen suspected al-Qaeda members, including senior figures, have surrendered in the restive southern province of Abyan, Yemen's defence ministry and a source close to the governor said yesterday.
"Fourteen al-Qaeda members have surrendered to Abyan's governor Ahmed al-Mayassari," said the ministry's website, 26sep.net, citing a security official.
Five of them are leaders of the network's local branch in Abyan, a source close to Mayassari told AFP.
Last month, another 15 suspected members of al-Qaeda surrendered to Abyan's governor.
Yemen is under renewed pressure to eliminate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a local franchise, after explosives were found in air parcels headed for the United States sent from its territory by suspected al-Qaeda militants.
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