(TF.SF )Yemen's Police Coast Guard has raised alert level and tightened security along the country's coastline and the Gulf of Aden for fears of possible infiltration of Somali
al-Qaida militants to Yemen, state media said on Sunday. The move followed the reports of recently escalating battles between the Somali government troops and Somali-based al-Qaida affiliated group Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen (Movement of Warrior Youth) that killed over 100 people and forced thousands to flee the war-torn country, the ruling party website alomotamar.net said. The Coast Guard raised the alert level and increased its patrol boats deployed along the Yemeni coastline and the Gulf of Aden to prevent any infiltration by the Somali militants into the Yemeni territories, the portal cited an unnamed official of the coast guard as saying. The official said the coastguard forces have seized up to 500 Somali refugees during the past two days when the latter illegally attempted to snake into the Yemeni coasts through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The refugees have been transported to refuge camps specially set up for Somalis in southern Yemen, said the official. The coastguard patrols also imposed a tightened security and inspection measures for all ships passing through Yemeni territorial waters to make sure their identities, he added. In February, Yemen said it has closed off main waterways leading to its seacoasts at the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea to prevent "African infiltrators" from entering its soil, according to its Interior Ministry.
It said the step came after the al-Qaida wing Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen announced its intention to support the Yemeni-based branch of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Yemen hosts 78,000 Somali refugees by the end of 2009 out of 171,000 total registered refugees, according to statistics of the U.N. refugee agency. Interior Ministry's officials say many more Somalis are still unregistered and thought to head for neighboring oil richer Gulf countries. The impoverished Arab country has witnessed a growing active role of the AQAP regional wing since the beginning of this year.Neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and the United States paid more attention to Yemen's security affairs after the Yemen- based al-Qaida wing claimed credit for a botched attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger plane bound for Detroit in December last year.
(TF.SF )Yemen's Police Coast Guard has raised alert level and tightened security along the country's coastline and the Gulf of Aden for fears of possible infiltration of Somali al-Qaida militants to Yemen, state media said on Sunday. The move followed the reports of recently escalating battles between the Somali government troops and Somali-based al-Qaida affiliated group Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen (Movement of Warrior Youth) that killed over 100 people and forced thousands to flee the war-torn country, the ruling party website alomotamar.net said. The Coast Guard raised the alert level and increased its patrol boats deployed along the Yemeni coastline and the Gulf of Aden to prevent any infiltration by the Somali militants into the Yemeni territories, the portal cited an unnamed official of the coast guard as saying. The official said the coastguard forces have seized up to 500 Somali refugees during the past two days when the latter illegally attempted to snake into the Yemeni coasts through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The refugees have been transported to refuge camps specially set up for Somalis in southern Yemen, said the official. The coastguard patrols also imposed a tightened security and inspection measures for all ships passing through Yemeni territorial waters to make sure their identities, he added. In February, Yemen said it has closed off main waterways leading to its seacoasts at the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea to prevent "African infiltrators" from entering its soil, according to its Interior Ministry. 
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