Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Yemen has reported the capture of a leading Al Qaida agent.

Officials said Yemen nabbed a leading operative of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula accused of killing of a senior military commander.

The officials said the operative, identified as Omar Salem, was detained in the southeastern province of Hadramaut on Oct. 29.

“The arrested terrorist Omar Salem is involved in the assassination of the deputy head of the military college, Gen. Ali Bin Freyjan,” an official said.

Bin Freyjan was killed in an AQAP attack in early October. Officials said Salem was deemed one of the most dangerous Al Qaida operatives in southeastern Yemen.

“Salem’s arrest was made by a patrol of Air Defense Brigade 190 after a process of monitoring the terrorist based on information obtained by the leadership of the province and the military command,” the official said.

Yemen’s official Saba news agency said Salem’s arrest marked a directive
by President Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to intensify the counter-insurgency
campaign in the southeast. After a lull of more than a year, AQAP has
restored operations in several provinces.

“The official source confirmed that the armed forces in the Second
Military Command would continue to pursue terrorists wherever they are, in
implementation of the president’s directives to eliminate terrorists from
the country’s provinces,” Saba said.

On late Oct. 29, Yemeni State Minister Hassan Sharaf Eddin submitted his
resignation in protest of the government’s failure to stop AQAP as well as
U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle strikes on civilians. Sharaf Eddin cited
repeated AQAP strikes on military and security units.

“All of the evidence shows that the government has been unable to
fulfill its responsibility and continues to be indifferent to the lives of
citizens and members of the military and security, killed daily in
assassinations or bombings,” Sharaf Eddin said.

  Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Gen. Ali Bin Freyjan, Hassan Sharaf Eddin, Omar Salem, Yemen captures key Al Qaida assassin