A policeman standing guard at the entrance of the police headquarters in Jos. A series of Christmas Eve church attacks and explosions have left at least 14 people dead in Nigeria
Explosions in Nigeria's central region killed 32 people on Christmas Eve and six people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation, officials said on Saturday.
On Friday night, a series of bombs were detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations in villages near the central city of Jos, killing at least 32 people while 74 were in a critical condition, the state police commissioner said.
Nigeria's army chief said the blasts were not part of religious clashes which flare up sporadically as tensions bubble under the surface in a country where the population is split roughly equally between Muslims and Christians.
It (Jos explosions) was caused by a series of bomb blasts. That is terrorism, it's a very unfortunate incident,' Azubuike Ihejirika said in the southern city of Port Harcourt.
The attacks come at a difficult time for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is in running a controversial campaign ahead of the ruling party's primaries on January 13
A ruling party pact says that power within the People's Democratic Party (PDP) should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two terms.
Suspected Islamist sect members attacked three churches in northern Nigeria on Christmas Eve, leaving six people dead and one of the churches burned
Dejected: Danny Shittu (left) and Kalu Uche sit dejected after being knocked out of the World Cup
Goodluck message: President Jonathan is not happy
Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the national team from international competition for the next two years following their poor performance at the World Cup.
Women in black, one of them carrying a placard reading "What If It Was Youg Child", march in a protest
Nigeria's police chief Ogbonna Onovo visited violence-hit central Plateau State on Friday and vowed to hold divisional police officers responsible for future incidents.
"Henceforth, DPOs will be held responsible for any such attacks in their areas of jurisdiction," Onovo said, regretting Sunday's massacre of more than 100 Christian farmers in three Berom villages by ethnic Fulani herdsmen.
He urged police officers to act promptly on intelligence reports on such attacks, and promised to help the state police command in its operations.
"We will provide more logistics and incentives to the police in Plateau State for the effective maintenance of law and order in the state," he said.
The inspector-general of police also called on his officers not to be distracted by any allegations of bias.
"As professionals they should do their work diligently and ignore insinuations," he said.
He said more police stations will be opened.
"The Nigeria police will open more police outposts in the remote areas of Plateau to forestall and combat any possible attack as the one that happened this week," he said.
The region's army commander Major-General Salih Maina, who accompanied Onovo, commended the state police "for their courage and boldness in stating the facts of what happened during the attacks and the actual casualty recorded, as against the outrageous figures being bandied about."
Plateau State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong had put the casualty figure in the violence at more than 500, but the state police commissioner said only 109 people were killed.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is divided almost in the middle between the two faiths. Plateau, of which Jos is the capital, straddles the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
The attacks on the three mainly Christian villages near Jos, launched before dawn on Sunday, also caused about 8,000 people to flee their homes.
It is believed President Tandja is being held at a military barracks in Niamey
The United States on Friday called for a "speedy return to democracy" in Niger, including transparent elections after a coup in the western African nation.
"The United States continues to call (for) Niger's speedy return to democracy and the rule of law, as well as prompt, fair and transparent elections," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said that the United States was "gratified" by the strong international reaction to the coup, including a "strong statement" by the European Union.
"We will obviously work closely with our international partners and do everything we can to see democracy returned to Niger as rapidly as possible," he said.
However, Crowley said that the United States was still assessing the situation and would not yet formally declare that Niger had undergone a coup.
Such a determination would trigger an immediate cut off in US assistance, but the United States already suspended millions of dollars in aid in December on concerns that President Mamadou Tandja was consolidating power.
The army on Thursday stormed a cabinet meeting, seizing Tandja who had forced through a new constitution last year.
"We have, on the one hand, expressed our concern about the suspension of the constitution," Crowley said.
"On the other hand, no one should resort to political violence to resolve political tension," he said.
The African Union has suspended Niger following Thursday's military coup, in which President Mamadou Tandja was deposed and the government dissolved.
The organisation said it had imposed sanctions on the country and demanded a return to constitutional rule.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the coup, and appealed for calm and respect for human rights.
Earlier, the new military council announced it was lifting a curfew and re-opening borders.
Col Abdul Karimou said the situation was "under control" and that there was "no single voice of dissension" in the West African state.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Friday in support of the takeover.
Ten people are said to have died when the junta seized power.
Tandja 'safe'
Troops stormed the palace during a cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon, seizing Mr Tandja and his ministers before announcing that they were suspending the constitution and dissolving all state institutions.
Calling themselves the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), the coup leaders promised to turn Niger into an example of "democracy and good governance" and save its people from "poverty, deception and corruption".
A senior army officer, Col Salou Djibo, was named head of a military government.
The US said it believed the coup had been triggered by Mr Tandja's actions last August, when he held a controversial referendum to abolish limits on presidential terms of office.
The opposition Co-ordination of Democratic Forces for the Republic (CFDR) - a coalition of political parties, trade unions and human rights groups formed last year to protest against the constitutional changes - welcomed it.
In a statement, the group condemned "President Tanja's stubbornness in power", and called on the junta to respect its pledge to restore democracy.
Mr Tandja, a 71-year-old former army officer, was first elected in 1999 and was returned to power in an election in 2004.
His second term in office expired in December, but was extended to allow him to complete major investment projects.
A junta spokesman, Col Goukoye Abdul Karimou, told the BBC on Friday that the president was "safe and well".
"We are taking care of him - remember he is one of our elder soldiers," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
The colonel said most of the cabinet ministers captured along with the president had been released and had gone home.
The three still being held would be free in a couple of days, he added.
It is believed they are being held at a military barracks in Niamey.
'Zero tolerance'
The international community has been quick to condemn the coup.
The European Union followed former colonial power France in calling for all those involved to "engage immediately in a democratic process allowing for rapid establishment of the constitutional order".
The chairman of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, said there should be "zero tolerance" of those taking power by force.
The regional organisation later announced that it had suspended Niger and called for its citizens to be allowed to elect the leader they wanted.
"Niger is suspended from all activities of the AU. Meanwhile, we will continue with the process of helping them return to constitutional order," said Mull Sebujja Katende, the chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council.
International deals
In New York, the UN's secretary general reiterated "his disapproval of unconstitutional changes of government as well as attempts to remain in power through unconstitutional means".
Mr Ban noted the CSRD had said it intended to restore constitutional rule and called on it "to proceed swiftly with these efforts through a process that is consensual and that includes all segments of Nigerien society".
Niger has experienced long periods of military rule since independence from France in 1960.
It is one of the world's poorest countries, but Mr Tandja's supporters argue that his decade in power has brought a measure of economic stability.
Under his tenure, the French energy firm Areva has begun work on the world's second-biggest uranium mine - ploughing an estimated $1.5bn (£970m) into the project.
China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $5bn deal in 2008 to pump oil within three years.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is now cooperating with government investigators.Son to rich nigerian banker.Try to explode PTPN bom hidden in underwear.Get overpower by passengers.
The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is again cooperating and providing useful intelligence to U.S. authorities, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday.
The Obama administration has been widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats because the suspect was interviewed by FBI agents for about an hour before he stopped cooperating and he was then read Miranda rights, providing him full U.S. constitutional legal rights.
Prosecutors charged Abdulmutallab, 23, with trying to blow up the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear, drawing further criticism from some lawmakers who said he should face a special military tribunal instead and questioning by intelligence operatives instead of the FBI.
"Abdulmutallab is talking and has been talking since last week providing useful, actionable and current intelligence that we've been actively following up on," the official said, declining to be named because the investigation is ongoing.
The FBI is working with the intelligence community on the information obtained from Abdulmutallab, the official said.
If convicted, Abdulmutallab could face spending the rest of his life in a U.S. prison, which could provide an incentive for him to cooperate with investigators.
The criticism has put the Obama administration on the defensive, but the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told lawmakers that there should be flexibility to make decisions on a case-by-case basis about whether such suspects go through civilian or military legal process.
Before Abdulmutallab stopped talking, administration officials have said he initially provided useful information.
That included telling investigators that he had received training as well as the explosive device he tried to detonate on the plane from militants in Yemen associated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
That group has become a significant concern to U.S. intelligence agencies which are monitoring its capabilities, intentions and recruitment of westerners, Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"We are still exploring the genesis of this plot and what other homeland plots AQAP and associated Yemeni extremists may have planned," he said.
"We are concerned that they will continue to try to do so, but we do not know to what extent they are willing to direct core cadre to that effort given the group's prior focus on regional operations," Blair said.
INTELLIGENCE GAPS FIXED-BLAIR
Blair also said he was confident that gaps had been fixed since the Dec. 25 incident and that another similar suspect would be apprehended before he got on the plane.
"I'm confident that someone who left the trail that Mr. Abdulmutallab did would now be found," Blair said. "What I can't tell is even with these improvements we would be able to catch someone who took more care."
In an audiotape aired recently on Al Jazeera television, a man purporting to be al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden praised Abdulmutallab and vowed more strikes at the United States.
Bin Laden has eluded a U.S. manhunt and authorities believe he has been hiding in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"My greatest concern, and what keeps me awake at night, is that al Qaeda and its terrorist allies and affiliates could very well attack the United States," CIA Director Leon Panetta said at the same hearing.
The biggest threat is not necessarily another attack similar to Sept. 11, but that al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways often difficult to detect, he said.
Al Qaeda is trying to strike the United States by deploying individuals to the country, and the concern is the group will use people with "clean credentials" who don't have a history of terrorism such as Abdulmutallab who had a visa, Panetta said.
White House spokesman Bill Burton confirmed what senior administration officials discussed last night: Christmas Day bomb plot suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is now cooperating with government investigators.
It is a political as well as legal development.
Congressional Republicans had criticized the administration for permitting Abdulmutallab to be read his Miranda rights, allowing him to "lawyer up" and remain silent.
He has not been silent in recent days, White House officials said, defending their handling of the case.
"We feel like we pursued the correct course," Burton said.
Abdulmutallab is presumably telling investigators about his fellow al Qaeda operatives back in Yemen, though Burton and other officials declined to say precisely what the discussions involve.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has not backed down. She said intelligence officials should have been consulted before Miranda warnings were issued.
Abdulmutallab information is welcome, she said, but his cooperation "implies that the government is willing to grant him a measure of leniency for the information he is willing to provide."
"We will never know whether the quality and quantity of information might have been superior had he not been given a lawyer who is now guiding him on what to reveal and what not to disclose," she added.
Other Republicans -- such as Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas -- said the White House leaked information about Abdulmutallab's cooperation to give themselves "political cover."
Burton suggested Republicans had engaged in politics with its initial handling of the Abdulmutallab case. He added: "It's important for the American people to know that we're doing everything possible to keep the American people safe."
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the army on Thursday to take over security in the central city of Jos to prevent further clashes between Christians and Muslims, which killed more than 460 people this week. Mr. Jonathan, left, has been empowered by a federal court to perform executive duties in the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who has been in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for two months. “Let me assure all that the federal government is on top of the situation and that the crisis is being brought under control,” Mr. Jonathan said in a televised address.
Massacre: violent clashes have forced about 17,000 people to flee their homes
Mass funerals are underway in the central Nigerian city of Jos after days of fighting between Christian and Muslim gangs left hundreds of people dead.
Human rights groups estimate at least 450 people have been killed in the violence and many of the dead have been taken to mosques and churches for burial.
At one mosque alone, more than 200 bodies have been left for burial, while dozens of others have been taken to churches.
Fighting between the groups of youths began last weekend and quickly escalated into a massacre.
It is unclear what sparked the clashes, which also forced about 17,000 people to flee their homes.
The city of Jos lies in Nigeria's Middle Belt where the mainly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south and has been a flashpoint for Nigeria's religious differences for the past decade.
Hundreds of people have been killed in similar clashes in the past decade.
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Authorities in the central Nigerian city of Jos claim clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs have killed around 150 people.
Gangs of Christian and Muslim youths have been roaming the streets of Jos since the weekend seemingly intent on killing.
The fighting erupted when Christian youths began protesting about the construction of a mosque in a predominantly Christian area.
Houses and cars were set alight before the gangs began shooting at each other.
Victims of the fighting have been taken to the main mosque and workers there claim more than 150 people have been killed while more than 800 have been wounded.
Authorities fear the violence may spread and have imposed a 24-hour curfew on the city's residents.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nigeria, Robin Waudo, says his workers in Jos have told him they are trapped indoors by the renewed fighting.
"What you have now is those people fighting still on the streets even with the curfew right now," he said.
"The main road into the city has been isolated now because of the fighting, so even our team that was leaving from Abuja this morning is not able to get into the city."
Nigeria has sent more troops to the troubled city of Jos as clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs, that have left about 300 people dead, spread to new districts.
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan ordered extra soldiers to Jos to clamp down on the violence as authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew.
The unrest erupted on Sunday over plans to build a mosque in a mainly Christian district of the city, which has riven by sectarian tensions for many years.
Mobs have set fire to buildings while many of the dead had been shot. Muslim leaders said about 200 bodies had been taken to the central mosque in Jos.
Several hundred have been reported wounded and casualties have filled hospitals. Some clinics were reportedly running out of medical supplies.
Residents said the fighting spread during the night to areas on the fringes of Jos, capital of Plateau State.
Idris Sarki, who fled into Jos from the nearby town of Kuru Karama, said attacks are still going on in areas in the southern parts of the city including Kuru Karama, Bisiji, Sabongidan and Kanar.
"The area I came from has been sacked. All residents like me who are fortunate have left, but many, many have been killed," he said.
Other residents said they had seen the army reinforcements on the streets.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) lobby group said more than 13,500 people have died in religious or ethnic clashes since the end of military rule in 1999 in the west African country.
The courthouse in Detroit, Michigan, where Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will be arraigned today
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces life imprisonment if convicted of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction
The Nigerian terror suspect accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day will make his first court appearance in Detroit Friday.
The arraignment comes a day after US president Barack Obama vowed sweeping and costly new measures to fix the intelligence flaws exposed by the Al-Qaeda attack.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on six counts arising from the botched plot to blow up an airliner packed with 290 passengers and crew flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The charges included attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction aboard a US plane.
Obama blamed US spy agencies for failing to properly connect and analyze signs that an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen was planning the attack.
Abdulmutallab was badly burned when the explosive he hid in his underwear caught fire but failed to blow up as Northwest Airlines Flight 253 began its descent into Detroit.
Fellow passengers subdued him and the crew was able to put the fire out before much damage had been done.
He spent several days in hospital before being transferred to a federal detention facility in Milan, Michigan.
Abdulmutallab is set to be arraigned at 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) at a federal courthouse in downtown Detroit.
A group of Muslim faith leaders is planning to rally outside the courthouse with signs declaring "not in our name."
"The collective goal of all of us, as our president has spoken about, is to defeat the extremists and Al-Qaeda," said organizer Victor Ghalib Begg, chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan.
"Their actions really harm all of us," Begg told AFP, referring to Islamic extremists.
"It gives a bad name to Muslims and it's important for religious leaders to speak out. The things these people do -- that's a ticket to hell, not to paradise."
Michigan district court documents accused Abdulmutallab of "carrying a concealed bomb" of high explosives inside his clothing onto Flight 253.
If convicted of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, he faces life imprisonment, the Department of Justice said. Attempted murder charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, while two charges of possession and use of a firearm or destructive device carry a mandatory 30 years prison term.
AbdulMutalab son of a Nigeria banker.Went to Yemen to study language and later trained by AL Qeada to use PETN bom.Dad already inform and warn authorities in Nigeria about his son radical views before the sucidal attempt.
AbdulMutalab went to Yemen to study but make contact with Al Qeada believe train him to use PETN.
AbdullahMutalib failed to ignite the PETN bom strapped in his underwear.Injected a syringe into the underwear but no explosion but badly burn leg.Later jump by a passenger.
Pieces of underwear containing the PETN.
PETN package inside the terrorist underwear that fail to explode instead badly burn AbdulMutalib leg.
The U.S. government had enough information about a Nigerian man and an al Qaeda's cell in Yemen to potentially disrupt their alleged plot to blow up a passenger jet on Christmas Day, a White House review found.
Here's what U.S. spy agencies and the State Department knew about the accused bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and the growing threat posed by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in the months before the attempted December 25 bombing:
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
About four months before the attempted bombing on December 25, the NSA intercepted telephone conversations in which the leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula talked about the possibility of using an unidentified "Nigerian" bomber in an attack, according to intelligence officials. John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top White House adviser on counterterrorism, said the intercepts were shared with the National Counterterrorism Center.
WHITE HOUSE
The flow of intelligence picked up between mid-October and late December, but U.S. counterterrorism officials learned as early as August how effective al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had become at concealing the explosive PETN, known as pentaerythritol, in the undergarments of would-be suicide bombers.
The intelligence stemmed from al Qaeda's attempted assassination on August 27 of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who heads Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign.
Brennan, who visited Saudi Arabia less than a week after the attack, said the United States worked with the Saudis to gather intelligence about al Qaeda's use of PETN but added: "There was nothing in that assassination attempt against Prince Mohammed bin Nayef that indicated aviation was a target."
The PETN hidden in Abdulmutallab's underwear failed to detonate.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
The CIA first learned of Abdulmutallab on November 18, when his father came to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, to voice concerns that his son may have come under the influence of militants and had planned to travel to Yemen.
The CIA said it worked with the embassy to add Abdulmutallab and his possible Yemeni contacts to the U.S. terrorism database and forwarded biographical information about him to the National Counterterrorism Center.
Critics say the CIA should have done more to flag the intelligence.
The White House said: "Though this information alone could not predict Mr. Abdulmutallab's eventual involvement in the attempted 25 December attack, it provided an opportunity to link information on him with earlier intelligence reports that contained fragmentary information."
STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S. diplomats also took part in the November 18 meeting with Abdulmutallab's father in Abuja and forwarded the information by unclassified cable to the National Counterterrorism Center on November 20. But officials said the information was deemed insufficient to revoke Abdulmutallab's U.S. visa.
Department officials argue that they generally rely on an interagency screening system to advise if visas should be revoked on security-related grounds, and that no such recommendation was made in this case.
Critics also say the State Department should have been alert to the threat after Britain denied Abdulmutallab a student visa to attend a bogus institution. U.S. officials say British authorities never informed them that the visa was denied, although they describe cooperation between the two countries since the incident as "seamless."
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER
The Director of National Intelligence is ultimately responsible for integrating foreign, military and domestic intelligence. For months, DNI Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta have waged a behind-the-scenes turf battle over Blair's role, but the White House and intelligence officials say the DNI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies shared information as they were supposed to.
Telephone intercepts and biographical information from the NSA and the CIA were shared with the National Counterterrorism Center, which was established in 2004 to serve as the main repository for counterterrorism intelligence gathered by more than 16 agencies. Critics say the center did not "connect the dots" as it was designed to do.
Lawmaker demand more security changes after failed attempt by suicidal person on US Flight.
President Obama's push to revamp the terror watch list, improve airport screening and hold the intelligence community more accountable for tracking suspects does not go far enough, some lawmakers say, arguing that more specific steps need to be taken to avoid a repeat of the attempted Christmas Day bombing.
President Obama's preliminary review of the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing would "shock" Americans, the most startling aspect of it may have been that the administration was pledging to do what seemed obvious to many -- at least in hindsight.
The president's push to revamp the terror watch list, improve airport screening and hold the intelligence community more accountable for tracking suspects had some lawmakers saying on Friday that the administration must offer more specific steps if it hopes to avoid a repeat of the alleged plot to blow up an international flight heading to Detroit.
"The president says we're going to have smart, sensible screening at airports. You know what? I hope so. It's about time," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News on Friday.
Lawmakers applauded the administration for the swift steps it has taken in response to the attempted bombing, but they are calling for additional, more specific changes in the months ahead.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said the State Department should suspend the visas of everybody in the terror database -- which contains more than a half-million people -- pending "further investigation." The Christmas Day suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had been in that database, but was not moved to any smaller list that would have required secondary airport screening or prohibited him from flying. His visa, meanwhile, was never revoked.
Collins also said the Department of Homeland Security should expand programs to verify that all foreigners flying to the United States have valid visas.
"If the State Department had cancelled Abdulmutallab's visa, he would never have been permitted to board his flight in Amsterdam," she said in a written statement.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote a letter to Obama urging him not only to halt the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen, but to all "countries with a significant Al Qaeda presence."
They listed Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Algeria and Sudan among them.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, already had warned the administration that the standards for watchlisting suspected terrorists are "too restrictive."
She urged the president in a recent letter to loosen the standards so that anyone "reasonably believed" to be connected with a terrorist group would be added to a watchlist and denied a visa.
It doesn't appear as if Obama's policy recommendations go that far -- at least not yet.
The administration, which has already started to expand the no-fly list, plans to conduct a "thorough review" of the terror database and review the visa status of those on it. It plans to review whether any "adjustments" are needed and also to review criteria for issuing visas.
The Obama administration has instituted a series of other changes since the failed attack two weeks ago. The Transportation Security Administration has called for extra screening for U.S.-bound flights at airports in 14 countries of interest; the State Department is changing the way it notifies other agencies about terror suspects; and the administration is halting the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, where Abdulmutallab visited before the attempted bombing.
The changes announced Thursday were a bit more vague. The administration pledged to pursue "enhanced screening," improve the "rigor and raise the standard of tradecraft of intelligence analysis," assign specific responsibility for certain terror suspect cases and establish a process for prioritizing cases, along with the review of the visa and watchlist system.
The recommendations came after a two-week review that found multiple shortcomings in the intelligence community. Obama said the information was available to prevent the suspect from boarding a U.S.-bound plane armed with explosives, but he said officials failed to connect the dots.
The CIA, which has taken some of the blame in the aftermath of the attempt, announced Thursday that it will make an effort to more quickly distribute information on suspected terrorists, expand name traces on suspects and increase the number of analysts in hot-spot countries like Yemen.
Going forward, the president said he's committed to an all-hands-on-deck approach to rooting out future threats.
"There is, of course, no foolproof solution. As we develop new screening technologies and procedures, our adversaries will seek new ways to evade them, as was shown by the Christmas attack," he said. "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary. That's what these steps are designed to do."
Yemeni forces carried out two air raids on jihadists last month
All eyes on Yemen after failed terror attack.Believe Abdullah Mutabal,failed suicide attemp on US airline, came here to study language and later trained in terrorists skills.
A woman walks by two Yemeni soldiers at a checkpoint in Sanaa, the capital. Yemen's deputy prime minister for security and defense said at a news conference that the Nigerian accused in the attempted airliner bombing over Detroit likely met with Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi
Yemeni security forces have arrested three suspected Al-Qaeda militants, including two leading members, in the province of Marib, the interior ministry said on Friday.
A statement on the ministry website said security forces chasing Al-Qaeda militants in the province on Thursday arrested a 25-year-old man, identified only as WJ, who is suspected of being a member of the group.
It added that security forces last month arrested "two prominent leaders" of Al-Qaeda in the same province, east of Sanaa.
Mubarak Hadi al-Shabwani and Mansur Saleh Dalil, described as Al-Qaeda leaders, were arrested on December 14 following an operation against the network in the province, the statement added.
An official told AFP on Friday the arrests took place following clashes between security forces and militants in which five security men were killed.
Counter-terrorism units had also tried to arrest the suspected Al-Qaeda leader in the province, Ayedh al-Shabwani, but he managed to flee, said the source.
Yemeni security forces insist they are winning the war against the jihadists, pointing to two separate air raids in December that killed more than 60 suspected Al-Qaeda members.
On Wednesday, Yemeni officials announced the capture of key Qaeda leader Mohammed al-Hanq and two other militants believed behind threats against Western interests in Sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days.
The arrest came after clashes two days earlier in which two members of Al-Qaeda were killed.
The interior ministry had said its security forces were repeatedly raiding hideouts of "terrorist elements" in several provinces and had turned their "fight against terrorism into a daily confrontation."
On December 24, Yemeni warplanes struck Wadi Rafadh, in Shabwa province, about 650 kilometres (400 miles) east of Sanaa. Officials said 34 suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed.
Long-standing concerns that Yemen has become a haven for Islamic extremism were thrown into sharp focus when a Nigerian man allegedly trained in Yemen was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet.
The botched Christmas Day attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which also urged attacks on Western interests in Yemen.
