3 Jan, 2010, UK

Britain and US have agreed to intensify the efforts to tackle the evolving threat from the Islamist groups in Yemen. The Officials said that the UK and the US were funding a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen. The news follows an alleged airline bomb attack over the Detroit.

The president, Barack Obama has sent his top Middle East general to meet Yemen’s president. The US president has alleged that the Christmas Day bomb suspect was trained by the Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot. Gen David Petraeus who is responsible for the US Middle East and Central Asian operations said that the US was keen to support Yemen’s fight against al-Qaeda.

Mr. Obama for the first time publicly accused the offshoot of al-Qaeda, based in Yemen, over the alleged attempt by the Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an airliner over Detroit.

The increased UK-US working will include the support for Yemeni coastguard operation. The details are still to be worked out but this will build on work already being done by the UK to help the Yemeni government combat terrorism. Gen David Petraeus flew to Yemen to discuss stepping up co-operation between the two countries in the fight against al- Qaeda. Gen Petraeus met President Ali Abdallah Saleh in the capital Sana’a and handed over a letter from President Obama. Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told that Yemen had the will and ability to deal with al-Qaeda, but needed more support from the West.