Yemen says its security forces have arrested an alleged senior al-Qaeda operative who survived a 2002 CIA attempt to kill him.
Yemeni security forces arrested the man who is believed to be a local leader of Osama bin Laden's network during a raid on suspected militant hideouts in a remote mountainous region.
The official named the detainee as Abdul Raouf Nassib, also known as Abu Mihjim, and said he was a henchman of al-Qaeda's Yemen leader Mohammed al-Ahdal, who was arrested last year.
He said Nassib was with senior Yemeni Qaeda suspect Ali Qaed al-Harithi when he was killed by an unmanned CIA plane in Yemen about two years ago.
Nassib had been charged with masterminding a 2003 jail escape by al-Qaeda suspects accused of involvement in an attack on the US warship Cole.
Yemen has been battling militants since the September 2001 attacks on US cities focused attention on extremists.
