Yemeni authorities have detained several foreigners, including Americans, Britons and an Australian woman, in connection with an investigation into al-Qaeda’s increased activity in the country, security officials said on Wednesday.
The arrests were made after foreign intelligence agencies provided lists of names of people they wanted detained or put under surveillance, the two security officials said.
They would not discuss details about most of those targeted — a group that also included Frenchmen, Africans and Asians — or specify how many they were.
Al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen has steadily increased in strength since key leaders escaped from a Yemeni jail in 2006. In January last year, it got another boost by merging with Saudi al-Qaeda militants to form al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Under US pressure and with the help of US aid, training and intelligence, Yemen’s government has battled the al-Qaeda militants. But the weak government’s control barely extends beyond the capital, and the militants have found shelter among powerful and sympathetic tribes that are hostile to the government.
The two Yemeni security officials said some of the recently detained foreigners are believed to be linked to the Nigerian man suspected of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in December. US investigators say the Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has told them he was trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Some of the detainees are also thought to be connected to radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have inspired attacks on the US and is hiding in Yemen, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not permitted to brief journalists.
The detained Australian woman moved to Yemen with her two children in 2006 after converting to Islam, her Yemeni lawyer said.
He identified her as 30-year-old Shyloh Giddins and said she was arrested May 15. The lawyer, Abdel-Rahman Berman, said he was not allowed to discuss details of the investigation, but he said she has not been charged.
According to Australian government documents obtained from the lawyer, Giddins’ Australian passport was canceled in April because the intelligence service there believes she is a security threat.
The documents state that Giddins has an extremist interpretation of Islam, without elaborating.
After arriving in Yemen, she studied Arabic and Islam and taught English in private institutes, her lawyer said.
Authorities have not allowed Giddins’ two children, who are five and seven years old, to leave their home in Yemen’s capital, San’a.
Canberra yesterday urged Yemen to fly the children home, as Berman said the youngsters had been locked in their apartment alone.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith said the Middle East country should return their passports and let them leave.
“We believe the best outcome is for the children to be given their passports and for them to return to Australia, and we’re urging that of the Yemeni authorities,” Smith told Sky News.
“We have made clear to them that we frankly see no reason why the children should not be allowed to return on their own passports to Australia,” he added.
Smith said Australia had been giving consular assistance to the family since Giddins’ arrest.
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