ADEN, Yemen, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's security authorities foiled an al-Qaida terrorist plot in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Wednesday, a government official told Xinhua.
Two al-Qaida members were captured while they were attempting to blow up a police center in Mukalla city, Hadramout's provincial capital, the local government official said on condition of anonymity.
"Security officers received an intelligence tip that some al- Qaida suspects were planning to detonate an explosive device near a police center in Mukalla," the source said.
Earlier this week, a U.S. drone strike killed at least two al- Qaida militants and injured several others in a raid on a house of suspected militants outside Wadi Abida in central Marib, some 170 km northeast of the capital Sanaa.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in January 2009, is considered the most strategic threat to the Yemeni government and its neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
The AQAP underscores the challenges faced by Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who came to power last February after winning support from major Yemeni political forces, the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Hadi is tasked with restoring security and stability to Yemen and putting an end to growing influence of al-Qaida that also threatens daily oil shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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