Yemen kills 'al-Qaeda cell leader'

Yemeni soldiers have killed the head of an al-Qaeda cell in the eastern province of Shabwa, the governor of the province says. Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi, said on Wednesday that Abdullah Mehdar was killed overnight by security forces after being besieged in a house where he had been hiding. Mehdar was reportedly the leader of an al-Qaeda cell in al-Houta region, 600km east of Sanaa, the capital. Security forces were hunting for the remaining members of the cell, Ahmadi said. "It happened after a day of clashes between government soldiers and the al-Qaeda cell they said was made up of 10 armed men," Mohamed Vall, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Sanaa, said. "The government confirmed Mehdar was killed along with another fighter, and that three others escaped." Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed responsibility for the failed attack on a US airliner on December 25, and the US accused the group of training Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged perpetrator of the planned attack.