Yemen sets bounty on militants after failed attacks

SANAA, Sep 16 (Reuters) Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh set a bounty of 25,420 dollar for the capture of ''terrorists'' today, a day after the minor oil producer foiled two suicide attacks on its oil and gas facilities.

''They (attackers) were targeting security, stability and development in this country. Had they succeeded in (hitting) their target, that would have been a great economic crisis,'' Saleh told a rally in his campaign for a new term as president.

Four bombers were killed when security forces blew up four rigged cars at dawn yesterday before they reached their targets, oil and gas facilities in the eastern provinces of Marib and Hadarmout. A guard was also killed, a worker with Canadian oil company Nexen Inc.

The oil ministry said there was no damage to the state-owned facilities and Nexen said its terminal was receiving and exporting oil as normal.

Saleh said the bounty would go to any civilian who helps capture a ''terrorist'' or any security officer who arrests or kills one.

The bounty is sizable if compared to the poor Arab state's GDP, which is estimated at about 350 dollar per capita.

Diplomats say powerful tribal leaders in mountain areas outside government control give shelter to militants, some of whom fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Saleh also said the attacks were timed to coincide with presidential and municipal elections, which will start on Wednesday.

''They targeted the democratic feast Yemen is living,'' he told voters in the province of Dhamar.

Al Qaeda and other groups see Western-allied governments such as Yemen's as traitors and therefore legitimate targets.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the failed attacks, but a Yemeni official has said the attackers had been identified without giving further details.

On Monday, al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to strike Western interests and stop what he called the theft of Muslim oil by the West.

Yemen, a minor oil producer, is the ancestral home of the family of al Qaeda's Saudi-born leader Osama bin Laden's.

The US embassy in Sanaa has asked Americans not to leave their heavily guarded residences and said non-essential official visits to Yemen were suspended.

Yemen, which has been battling militancy for years, beefed up security around foreign embassies and other foreign buildings after the attacks.

The foiled attacks were the first on an oil target in Yemen since the 2002 bombing of the French oil supertanker Limburg off the coast, for which al Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Yemen produces 400,000 bpd of crude and is estimated to have exported 333,000 bpd last year.

Militant attacks in Yemen include the suicide bombing in 2000 of the US warship Cole, which killed 17 US sailors.

After the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the Arab country joined the US-led ''war on terror.'' REUTERS SY SSC1541