Yemen arrested six fugitives, including three Britons, suspected of links to six other men who went on trial in Aden yesterday on charges of plotting murder and sabotage, the Interior Ministry said.
"Security forces in Shabwa governorate today arrested the remaining members of the extremist terrorist gang who have remained at large," the official Yemeni news agency SABA said, quoting an Interior Ministry official.
It said the group, including two members of an Islamic militant group that kidnapped 16 Western tourists last month, surrendered to security forces yesterday, one day after being surrounded in the Shabwa Mountains in eastern Yemen.
Among those arrested was Mr Mohammed Mustafa Kamel, son of Mr Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Afghan war veteran living in Britain whose extradition is being sought by Yemen so that he can stand trial for alleged links to Islamic militant groups operating in the Arab state.
SABA said two of the others arrested were British passport-holders, while a fourth was an Algerian travelling on a French passport. It said he had been living in Britain.
The agency said the remaining two were an Algerian national and a Yemeni citizen who had taken part in the killing of four Western tourists among the 16 seized last month.
The six men were taken for questioning and would eventually be put on trial, the agency said.
Tribesmen in Yemen yesterday kidnapped three German nationals, all members of the same family, an official said. "Tribesmen kidnapped a German woman, her brother and her mother in the northern province of Amran," the official said. He said it was not clear when they were kidnapped, but that authorities learnt of the abduction yesterday.
Earlier yesterday five Britons and a man carrying a French passport were charged with planning to form an armed gang to carry out murder, sabotage and bombings threatening Yemen's security.
The men showed reporters bruises on their bodies and arms and screamed that they had been tortured as they arrived at the Aden Preliminary Court in handcuffs and surrounded by armed soldiers.
Yemeni security forces arrested Mr Moshin Ghalain (18), of London, Mr Ghulam Hussein (25), from Luton, and Mr Shahid Butt (33), Mr Malik Harhra (26), and Mr Samad Ahmed (21), all from Birmingham, last month.
The prosecutor, who read the charges in the open court, said the men conspired to form "an armed gang to carry out a criminal plan to threaten the security of Yemen and carry out terrorist acts of killing, sabotage and bombings".
The prosecutor demanded the maximum penalty, which could be the death sentence or a minimum three-year jail term.
The judge asked the prosecutor to call in witnesses and provide evidence when the trial resumes on January 30th.
The prosecutor also charged that the six were linked to Mr Masri, head of the London-based Supporters of Sharia (Islamic law) group, as well as to the leader of the kidnappers of the 16 Western tourists.