Yemen prepares large scale plan for fighting violence, terrorism

A Yemeni official source said that the authorities are studying a large- scale plan to fight what he called terrorism, following the increase of acts of violence in the country.

Security sources explained that this plan, in particular states the "increase in the level of cooperation and coordination between the Yemeni security departments and the armed forces in order to fight terrorism and "reinforce security measures around embassies and monitoring foreigners who live in the country."

Within the same context the same sources announced that the ministry of the interior "is to take strong measures aiming at closing shops for selling weapons and explosives and preventing launching gun-fire in cities and during weddings and celebrations." Yemeni official reports indicate that more than 50 million weapons exist in Yemen. However, the special law concerning owning weapons, submitted by the government to the parliament is strongly opposed by certain tribal figures.

Moreover, announcing these plans came in response to a call launched on January 1st by the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for the Yemeni security departments demanding them to arrest persons responsible for acts of violence. This was following the assassination of three Yemeni doctors and the second ranking official in the Yemeni opposition socialist party Jarullah Omar at the hands of two armed men described as two extremist Islamists.

Then, the Yemeni president called on the security forces to double their efforts and take all necessary measures to chase every one with links to these committed criminal acts and bringing those who violate security before the justice.