Attacks against al Qaida in Yemen and Saudi Arabia

A big security clampdown in the Yemen, with arrests of 170 people suspected of links to al Qaida and new teams of bodyguards assigned to government officials around the country, is thought to presage the long-awaited attack on al Qaida bases in the deep interior near the Saudi border. Saudi sources say that President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave the order to prepare the offensive at a special security council meeting this week with military commanders and security agencies. The meeting came after warnings that al Qaida had been recruiting more support among Islamist groups to launch a campaign against Saleh as an American lapdog.