Yemen Claims Strike on Al Qaeda Members

(AP)  Yemen's embassy in Washington says its nation's air force launched an airstrike on an al Qaeda hideout ahead of a likely terror attack.

The airstrike was carried out Sunday in Yemen's Abyan province. Yemen's ministry of defense, in a statement released by the embassy, said the al Qaeda group was planning "an imminent attack on a strategic installation" in retaliation for stepped-up counterterrorism efforts.

Working with U.S. intelligence officials, Yemen has recently boosted its counterterrorism efforts. Last week it announced the arrest of a U.S. citizen accused of being part of Yemen's al Qaeda branch.

The al Qaeda division in Yemen has been linked to the failed bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. It has also been the subject of increased concern by U.S. counterterrorism officials.

[wheresmycountry]

By "airstrike", do they mean they threw something at the hideout, or does Yemen have planes? I thought Yemen just had a boat and they blew that up already.

[askagain]

wheresmycountry - I checked Wikipedia and sure enough, Yemen has an air force. Wikipedia even says that the air force is effective. This is a surprise to me.