The Yemeni government has said it needs more support from the West to tackle al-Qaeda, as details emerge of the links between the Nigerian would-be bomber of a US-bound plane and the south western Asian country. Several hundred al-Qaeda militants are possibly operating in Yemen and could be planning attacks like the attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a US jet, a Yemeni minister has said.

According to US intelligence agencies, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has transformed itself from a regional threat into the network's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan. The group has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a Delta Airlines plane as it approached Detroit on a flight from Amsterdam with almost 300 people on board. US media have reported that some of the leaders behind the planned attack are former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Appealing for more help from the US and Europe, Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi described the current level of assistance as "inadequate" and said his country needed more training for counter-terrorism units and more military equipment. The growing al-Qaeda threat from Yemen had already prompted US President Barack Obama to expand assistance to the Yemeni government to launch raids against militant hide-outs earlier this month.

View of Yemeni capital Sena'a by eesti (flickr)