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One militant was wounded and the fighting was still going on, the official said.

"These elements are believed to be behind the threats directed to the U.S. embassy," he said.

The United States and Britain kept their embassies in Yemen closed for a second day on Monday over concerns about possible militant attacks after the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen branch of Osama bin Laden's network, has claimed responsibility for the attempt by Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bomb the U.S. plane carrying 300 people.

Yemen, facing a Shi'ite Muslim rebellion in the north and separatist protests in the south, said it will not tolerate militant groups on its territory.

Western allies have sought to bolster Yemen's government for fear that al Qaeda might exploit the country's instability to launch more attacks across the globe.

Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said in December there could be up to 300 al Qaeda militants in Yemen, some of whom may be planning attacks on Western targets.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; Writing by Tamara Walid; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Angus MacSwan)
source-http://www.reuters.com

Cape Town — Airline passengers who are citizens of, or fly through, five African nations will undergo more intensive security screening from today before being permitted to board flights to the United States.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the new "enhanced screening" on Sunday.

According to Monday's editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post, the five African nations affected are Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.

Nine other nations - most of them in Asia or the Middle East - are also covered by the TSA's directive, which applies to "nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest." Sudan is regarded by the U.S. as a "state sponsor of terrorism." The Washington Post named the other African countries affected as "countries of interest to U.S. intelligence agencies."

The Post also reported that in a directive to airlines on the tougher screening measure, the TSA had emphasized a "full body pat-down and physical inspection of property".

The TSA's public statement said the directive applies to "every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world travelling from or through" the affected countries.

The directive follows the arrest of a Nigerian for attempting to set off a bomb on an airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Vanguard

It was issued as former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made an appeal urging the international community not to judge all Nigerians by the actions of one person.

"Nigerians are law-abiding people and not terrorists," Vanguard newspaper reported him as saying.

"The young man's case should not be used as a standard to judge Nigerians or in fact, to criminalise all Nigerians... The fact that the boy committed a grave offence as a Nigerian does not say that all Nigerians are terrorists or criminals."

The TSA statement said its new directive "also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S.-bound international flights."
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The New York Times reported that the extra scrutiny of passengers and their carry-on bags could include the use of "whole-body scanners" - which can examine people for explosives or weapons beneath their clothing - where they are available.

But the screening of Americans and citizens of nations not affected by Sunday's directive
could be relaxed. The Times reported that civil rights groups had protested the distinction made between passengers on the basis of their country of origin.

It quoted Nawar Shora of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as saying the directive wrongly implied that all citizens of certain nations are suspect. "...[T]his is extreme and very dangerous," he reportedly said.
source-http://allafrica.com

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Who is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab? Details still are emerging on the 23-year-old man charged Saturday with attempting to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253, but this much is clear:

Where he has been: In Nigeria, his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, told the Associated Press that his son, a former university student in London, had left Britain to travel abroad and may have gone to Yemen, a lawless country on the Persian Gulf where Al Qaeda increasingly has found safe haven. Intelligence and antiterrorism officials in Yemen said they were investigating claims by the suspect that he picked up the explosive device and instructions on how to use it in that country.

Where he has lived: A police search was under way Saturday at an apartment building where Abdulmutallab is said to have lived in a posh West London neighborhood.

Where he has schooled: University College London issued a statement saying a student named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab studied mechanical engineering there between September 2005 and June 2008. But the college said it wasn't certain the student was the same person who was on the plane.

How he was Saturday: He smiled as he was wheeled into a conference room at the University of Michigan Trauma Burn Center to be arraigned for Friday's incident.

source- http://www.freep.com/article/20091227/NEWS05/912270420/1322/What-is-known-about-Umar-Farouk-Abdulmutallab