Four Al Qaeda members held in Yemen

Four members of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda offshoot were detained during a police raid at a hotel in the country's Hadramout province Sunday, a security official said.

"The military police forces launched an operation and stormed a hotel in the Seiyun town of Hadramut province, detaining four Al Qaeda operatives," Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

The captured men were mid-level commanders of the Al Qaeda group. They were involved in several drive-by shootings and armed attacks against security forces and intelligence officials in the province, the official added.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking officer of the Yemeni Political Security Forces survived an assassination attempt in Hadramout's town of Seiyun Sunday afternoon, a government official said.

The Yemeni military and security forces, with the US support, have recently intensified operations against suspected Al Qaeda strongholds throughout the country, killing many non-Yemeni Al Qaeda suspects, and prompting retaliation attacks by the Al Qaeda.