Sana'a, Yemen  - A total of 16 suspected al-Qaeda terrorists will go on trial in Sana'a next week for a string of attacks including the killing of two Belgian tourists, a court source revealed Friday.

The 16 defendants comprise 11 Yemenis, four Syrians and a Saudi national of Yemeni origin, and will be charged with plotting attacks against foreigners, Western interests, vital state installations and oil facilities in Yemen.

Among the charges the group will face is the attack on Belgian tourists in the south-eastern province of Hadhramout in January 2008, the source, who asked anonymity, told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa.

Two female Belgian tourists and three Yemeni drivers were killed when gunmen opened fire on their convoy near a historical site in Dowan valley, around 900 kilometres from the capital Sana'a. Another tourist was injured.

Authorities referred 17 people to the court last week, but prosecutors released a Syrian suspect for the lack of evidence, the source said.

The group is also accused of planning the March 18, 2008 mortar attack that targeted the US embassy in Sana'a but missed its target and hit an adjacent school, injuring three police officers and four school girls, he added.

Authorities also linked the group to a similar attack that targeted a residential compound housing US and Western citizens on April 6 last year. No one was hurt in that attack.

The 16 men will also be charged with firing two mortar shells at the Italian embassy in Sanaa on April 30, again without casualties.

The most recent attack blamed on the group was the July 25 suicide car bomb attack against the police complex in Sayoun city of Hadhramout that killed two policemen dead and wounded 18 people, including seven women.

Yemen, an impoverished country located on the south-western tip of the Arabian Peninsula, has allied itself with the US-led "war on terror" since the September 11, 2001 attacks. It has since pursued suspected members of al-Qaeda and put scores of them on trial. dpa