Yemen Security Services on 'Terror' Alert

Yemen said on Sunday it has placed its security services on high alert to prevent "terrorist" attacks after it uncovered a plot to launch assaults against security and military checkpoints.

"The ministry of interior has ordered security services across provinces as well as in the capital to increase their alertness in military and security positions to prevent any expected terrorist attacks," the ministry said.

The orders "come after security services uncovered a terrorist plot to carry out attacks against security and military posts and checkpoints," it added.

The attackers were plotting to "disguise by wearing military uniforms and achieve their targets."

Al-Qaida militants have carried out several deadly attacks against Yemeni security services since President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, who has repeatedly vowed to battle extremists, came to power this year.

In May, a Yemeni soldier detonated explosives packed under his uniform in the middle of an army battalion in the capital Sanaa, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, believed to be the global network's most effective and lethal franchise, had claimed responsibility for the attack.

This month, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a police academy in Sanaa, killing eight cadets and wounding several more. Officials had accused al-Qaida of carrying out the assault.

But the network has not claimed responsibility for this attack.