Yemen on alert

SANA’A — Yemen said Sunday it has placed its security services on high alert to prevent “terrorist” attacks after it uncovered a plot to launch assaults against security and military checkpoints.

“The ministry of interior has ordered security services across provinces as well as in the capital to increase their alertness in military and security positions to prevent any expected terrorist attacks,” the ministry said.

The orders “come after security services uncovered a terrorist plot to carry out attacks against security and military posts and checkpoints,” it added.

The attackers were plotting to “disguise by wearing military uniforms and achieve their targets.”

Al-Qaeda militants have carried out several deadly attacks against Yemeni security services since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who has repeatedly vowed to battle extremists, came to power this year.

In May, a Yemeni soldier detonated explosives packed under his uniform in the middle of an army battalion in the capital Sanaa, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300. The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, believed to be the global network’s most effective and lethal franchise, had claimed responsibility for the attack. — Agencies