Sanaa  - Yemeni security forces arrested three suspects, including A Kuwaiti national, in a crackdown on militant groups linked to terror acts, official sources said Friday.

The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement that the three suspects, aged between 20 and 25, were captured in the north-central province of Marib.

The two-line statement said one of the suspects was an Arab man, without giving further details. A Defence Ministry online newspaper said the non-Yemeni suspect was a Kuwaiti national.

The arrests have been made amid a wide-scale manhunt after suspects in various terrorism and security cases, the 26 September website said quoting well-informed security sources.

Security forces launched this week a country-wide manhunt campaign in pursue of fugitives believed to be linked to al-Qaeda after the groups local leader, Nasser al-Wahishi made his first appearance on a video posted on Jihadist websites.

Al-Wahishi, alias Abu-Bassir, threatened in the video to carry out attacks against US and Western interests in the Arabian Peninsula.

On January 19, two suspected members of a cell belonging to the al-Qaeda, one of them was a Saudi national, were killed after police raided a house in Sanaa.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, Yemen allied itself with the US-led 'war on terror' and pursued suspected members of al-Qaeda, putting scores of them on trial. (dpa)