Yemen had arrested 29 suspected al-Qaeda members and will continue to hunt down other members of the terror network, government officials said Monday.
Al-Qaeda had planned to attack oil facilities, government buildings and the British embassy, said Yemen's National Security Chief Ali Mohammad Al-Ansi.
Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Abdullah Al-Kurbi said the recent months have seen enhanced cooperation between his country and the United States, and the U.S. information had been"key element" in Yemen's anti-terror operations.
Al-Qaeda claimed on Monday that it was behind the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane, Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel reported.
In a statement, al-Qaeda said that their "Nigerian brother," 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had broken all U.S. security barriers in getting on board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25. The man had tried to destroy the plane carrying 289 people with an explosive device obtained from al-Qaeda, but failed due to a "technical fault," the report quoted al-Qaeda as saying.
Earlier, the Nigerian attacker claimed he had ties with al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.