Feb. 9 (Press TV) - Sana'a has dismissed threats from the so-called Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who have called for attacks on US interests worldwide.
Yemen "will not be intimidated by al-Qaeda threats," the country's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, vowing "security forces will continue to combat any violation of the law and will strike terrorist hideouts wherever they are found."
The statement came a day after Said al-Shihri, the second man in the militant group, called for attacks on "American and Crusader interests" across the globe.
Shihri also said his men were after gaining control of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, and called on Yemeni tribes and the Somali group Al-Shabab for cooperation.
The interior ministry downplayed the threats as a sign of "the isolation and despair of terrorist elements in Yemen."
The ministry's statement further ruled out any truce with the militants, saying Yemeni security forces would "track terrorist elements throughout Yemen, around the clock."
The developments come as the United States has been providing the Sana'a government with military equipment, training and intelligence against the anti-government groups and al-Qaeda members allegedly holed up in Yemen's southern provinces.
The US air force reportedly took part in the operations in the region to give rise to speculations perceiving Yemen as Washington's next target of the so-called "war on terror" after Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just before the turn of 2009, a Nigerian youth named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to blow up a US airliner on December 25 as it landed in Detroit.
US officials soon claimed the Nigerian national had received training for his mission from an al-Qaeda bomb maker in Yemen.
US President Barack Obama blamed the failed attempt on what he called "al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."