Sana'a, Yemen  - Six militants from the Islamic Jihad organization arrested by Yemeni police had tried to approach an Israeli intelligence agency for help to carry out terrorist attacks in the Arab state, a security source said on Tuesday.

The source's comments come one day after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Yemeni police had dismantled a terrorist cell five days ago that was linked to Israeli intelligence services.

The unnamed source told the official Saba news agency that police had seized "written communications between the cell's second-in-command Bassam Abdullah al-Haidari, and an Israeli intelligence agency, in which he asked for support to carry out terrorist acts inside Yemen."

The source said the cell was dismantled in September after its alleged leader, Emad Ali al-Rawni, alias Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, issued two statements claiming responsibility for the car bombing outside the US embassy on September 17, which killed 18 people.

The source did not clarify whether the discrepancy in dates, or if the two cells were the same.

Abu al-Ghaith, who signed the statements as the leader of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Yemen, threatened more attacks against Arab and Western embassies in Sana'a, including those of Britain and Saudi Arabia.

Saleh, who made the remarks in the south-eastern province of Hadhramout, said the cell was using Islam as cover for terrorist acts.

Yemen was recently the scene of terrorist attacks claimed by al-Qaeda. The latest and deadliest was the car bomb attack that targeted the US embassy. Yemeni officials have blamed the terrorist network al-Qaeda for the attack.

It was the deadliest attack against US interests in Yemen since the October 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden, which left 17 sailors dead and 32 wounded.

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)