May 3, 2009, 19:56 GMT
Sana'a, Yemen - A suspected member of al-Qaeda was killed Sunday when an explosive device he was making went off accidentally in southern Yemen, the defence ministry said.
The suspect, identified as Anwar Muhammed al-Taghshi, died instantly as the bomb exploded in his hideout in the al-Wadhea district of the southern province of Abyan, the ministry said in a statement.
It said al-Taghshi was on the list of most wanted al-Qaeda members sought by police in Yemen.
The suspect 'was preparing the bomb to use it in a terrorist operation when it exploded and killed him instantly,' the statement said.
Abyan, some 70 kilometres east of the southern port city of Aden, is one of the strongholds of al-Qaeda and other Yemeni Jihadist groups. Last March, about 70 suspected members of terrorist groups were arrested in a crackdown in Abyan.
Separately, a suspected al-Qaeda member linked to a suicide attack on South Korean police in Sana'a in March, was arrested, the interior ministry said Sunday.
The 22-year-old suspect, identified as AM al-Ameri, was captured in the Red Sea port city of Houdieda two days ago, the ministry said in a statement.
It said al-Ameri had planned the attack, with the suicide bomber Khaled Abdullah al-Dhayanion, on a convoy carrying the South Koreans near Sana'a International Airport on March 18. No one was wounded.
The attack took place three days after a similar suicide bombing killed four South Korean tourists and a Yemeni tour guide in the south-eastern Yemeni province of Hadhramout.
An al-Qaeda wing in Yemen claimed responsibility for the two suicide attacks.
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