Thirty-four suspected al-Qaeda militants² have been killed and 17 arrested by security forces, the Yemeni defence ministry³ said.

也门国防部称，国家保卫部队累计杀死34名、逮捕17名基地组织激进分子嫌疑犯。

resurgence⁴ of al-Qaeda as well as other security challenges" width="226" height="170" src="/upimg/091218/4_065556_1.jpg" />
Yemen faces a resurgence of al-Qaeda as well as other security challenges

The militants had allegedly假设，据说 been planning multiple suicide attacks, with eight of them preparing explosive vests, Reuters路透社 news agency reported.

The operations were carried out in Abyan province in the south and in Arhab, north of the capital Sanaa.

The resurgence再现，复活 of al-Qaeda in Yemen has raised concern in the region.

Officials have indicated that the operations were considered a major success against al-Qaeda.

Hideouts hit

The group was planning a number of suicide attacks against foreign and local targets, they say.

Airforce jets and soldiers hit training camps and hideouts隐匿处 early on Thursday, disrupting plans for attacks on domestic and foreign interests in Yemen, including schools, according to the ministry-linked website sep26.net.

The organisation⁵ has carried out frequent attacks in Yemen in recent months, generally against relatively⁶ low-level targets in the provinces such as local security officials.

The US concerns about al-Qaeda in Yemen stem partly from the fact that the government in Sanaa has so many other security issues to worry about, says the BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones in Sanaa.

They include a civil war in the north of the country, and frequent armed pro-independence protests in the south.

'Thousands of jihadis'

Yemen has long been an ideal base for jihadists, BBC Middle East analyst⁷ Roger Hardy⁸ says.

It is not just the ancestral home原籍，祖籍 of the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin⁹ Laden¹⁰. With its rugged¹¹粗糙的，崎岖的 mountains and traditionally weak central authority, it is terrain地形，地势 well suited to militant¹ groups looking for hiding places and training camps.

Large numbers of Yemenis fought Soviet¹³ troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s - and today Yemenis comprise包含 the largest group of prisoners still being held by the Americans in Guantanamo Bay.

Last year the Yemeni foreign minister estimated there were over a thousand jihadi圣战 fighters in the country.

Al-Qaeda militants have carried out a string of suicide attacks over the last two years against targets including the US embassy and Western tourists.

They have also used the country as a base from which to attack neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

While the authorities insist they're doing everything they can to crush the jihadist movement, analysts¹⁴ believe that some radical¹⁵ Islamists have friends in high places who turn a blind eye to their activities, our BBC analyst Roger Hardy says .