Yemen arrests nine foreign suspected militants

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SANAA, Yemen, July 5 (UPI) -- Yemen's Defense Ministry announced the arrest of 14 al-Qaida suspects including nine foreigners.

The Defense Ministry stated those detained included four Egyptians, two Jordanians, a Somali, a Tunisian and two from the Russian Federation's Caucasus region who had plotted to attack senior Yemeni military and civil leaders as well as foreign interests in the country.

The Defense Ministry news release said the suspects "were working under three terrorist cells and the largest was part of the militants who fought the army over the past few months in the south" but did not give names or further details about the arrests, the Yemen Post reported Wednesday.

In June Yemeni authorities broke up more than a dozen terrorist cells and arrested their members, including the terrorist group behind the May 21 suicide bombing attack targeting a military parade rehearsal in the capital Sanaa that killed more than 100 soldiers.

Yemen's Petroleum and Minerals Minister Hisham Abdullah told reporters militant attacks against the country's oil infrastructure have caused Yemen "economic losses estimated at more than $4 billion."