Sana'a, Yemen  - Yemen has extradited to Saudi Arabia eight Saudis one week after Yemeni police uncovered suspected plots by al- Qaeda to carry out terrorist attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a st

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni police have uncovered a second al-Qaeda-linked terrorist cell in the south-east of the country, just days after security forces raided an al-Qaeda hideout in the area, the official Saba news agency reported Friday.

The agency quoted a security source as saying that police arrested one member of the group after they raided a tent house outside the Arabian Sea port city of Mukalla.

The source said police also found firearms, explosives, military uniforms in the raided hideout and were continuing their investigation.

Mukalla is the capital of south-eastern Hadhramout province, a desert region where al-Qaeda has recently showed an active presence.

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in remarks published Wednesday that an al-Qaeda cell dismantled by security forces in south-eastern Yemen had plotted terrorist attacks in his country and its oil-rich neighbour Saudi Arabia.

Saleh was quoted by state newspapers as saying Yemeni police had seized documents containing "dangerous information unveiling a plan by the al-Qaeda organization to carry out terrorist acts in Yemen and Saudi Arabia."

He reportedly made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz late on Tuesday.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Tribesmen abducted a French engineer of Algerian origin Tuesday in south-eastern Yemen to press authorities to free three jailed fellow clansmen, tribal sources said.

The sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the kidnappers took the man, who works for a giant gas exporting project, at gunpoint from the Habban area about 40 kilometres from Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa.

Shabwa, some 580 kilometres south-east of the capital Sana'a, has been the scene of several kidnappings of foreigners in recent years.

Sana'a, Yemen  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Friday asked for easier access to areas in conflict-hit north- western Yemen where it was nearly impossible to carry out relief work.

"Except in Saada city and its immediate vicinity, it remains difficult or impossible for the ICRC to operate in the conflict zones of northern Yemen," a statement from the aid agency said.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad arrived in Sana'a Friday for talks with Yemeni officials on efforts to hold reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian movements of Fatah and Hamas, Yemen's officials Saba news agency reported.

The agency said Fayyad would discuss with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and other senior officials "thoughts for implementing the Yemeni initiative that is intended to patch up the inter- Palestinian rift."