Yemen says it foiled al-Qaeda plot

Yemeni agents intercepted al-Qaeda phone calls detailing attacks on multiple cities and ports across the country, officials there said Wednesday, a day after both the U.S. and the United Kingdom pulled embassy staff from the capital city of Sanaa, a Yemeni army helicopter was shot down by insurgents and a suspected U.S. drone strike killed four, including alleged al-Qaeda members.

Based on the intercepted calls, a Yemeni government spokesman told the Associated Press that in recent days, with international help, Yemeni security services foiled attempts by al-Qaeda to carry out attacks to control key cities and ports in Yemen, and to blow up gas pipelines.

Spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot was planned for the 27th day of Ramadan, or Aug. 3 -- believed by Muslims to be the most powerful night, Laylat al-Qadr, in the Islamic holy month of fasting.

The details of the plan included transporting al-Qaeda members disguised in military uniforms to ports that are important for oil exports, where they would ask for Ramandan tips as a ruse to gain access so they could launch their attacks, which would have targeted gas facilities and pipelines.

As Westerners flew out of the country, Yemeni authorities launched a wide investigation into the al-Qaeda threat to multiple potential targets in the impoverished Arab nation.

Security officials said they believed the terror network was seeking retaliation for a U.S.-backed military offensive against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) along with controversial drone strikes that have often killed civilians instead of fighters.

The Yemeni army, meanwhile, surrounded foreign installations, government offices and the airport with tanks and troops in the nation's capital, Sanaa, as well as the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea in the southern Arabian Peninsula, drawing parallels with security measures following the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor that killed 17 American sailors.

It is not clear if the Yemeni reports are the same as the intelligence that led to the US State Department on Tuesday ordering non-essential personnel at the US Embassy in Yemen to leave the country, and the temporary shutdown of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa.

A U.S. intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat told the AP that the closures were triggered by the interception of a secret message between al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of AQAP, about plans for a major terror attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Yemeni investigators looking into the threat said they believe the motive of the attack was retaliation for the killing of Saudi-born Saeed al-Shihri, who was released from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay after nearly six years and later became the No. 2 al-Qaeda leader in Yemen.

Al-Shihri was critically wounded in a November drone strike and later died of his wounds, the militant group acknowledged.

Yemen's government criticized the evacuations in a statement from its embassy in Washington, saying the diplomatic withdrawal "serves the interests of the extremists and undermines the exceptional cooperation" between Yemen and the international community in fighting terrorism.

It insisted that its government has taken all precautions to ensure the security of foreign missions in Sanaa.

Meanwhile, there has been a spike in apparent U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaeda leaders. The attack Tuesday was the fourth in two weeks.

Yemeni officials say the drone fired a missile at a car carrying four men in the al-Arqeen district of Marib province, setting it on fire and killing them. One of the dead was believed to be Saleh Jouti, a senior al-Qaeda member.

The Yemeni military helicopter was shot down by a missile over the al-Qaeda stronghold of Wadi Ubida in central Yemen, officials said. The eight who were killed, including a military commander, were part of a military force guarding oil installations in the province.

The Yemeni officials who provided the information on the suspected drone, the helicopter downing and the security in the capital all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Yemen, a decentralized and predominantly Muslim country that is the ancestral homeland of the late al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has been the site of numerous anti-U.S. plots and attacks.

Besides the strike against the USS Cole, al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in 2008, killing one American. Western embassies were locked up in 2010, days after the foiled plot on Christmas Day in which a passenger on a Detroit-bound plane allegedly tried to detonate explosives in his underwear. The Obama administration said the suspect was trained and armed by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

Yemen has also been the site of numerous U.S. drone strikes, an estimate that ranges from 44 to 67, with the Long War Journal, the New America Foundation and the AP all reporting a dramatic increase in the number of strikes on Yemen this year.

They also estimate that over 30 people have been killed in strikes so far this year; all were labeled as “militants” although it is difficult to determine civilian deaths.

Al Jazeera and wire services