Yemen says arrests "Qaeda militant" ahead of polls

SANAA, Sep 19 (Reuters) Yemen's security forces have arrested a man they said was a senior al Qaeda militant who was also a bodyguard for an opposition candidate standing in tomorrow's elections, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said.

The President told reporters today that the man had been planning attacks against U S interests in the capital Sanaa.

However, a spokesman for opposition candidate Faisal bin Shamlan accused the bodyguard of working for Yemeni intelligence and said he had fired him.

''We discovered today that a senior terrorist was planning terrorist attacks in Sanaa against American interests and he was arrested,'' Saleh said, brandishing a picture of the suspected militant.

A Yemeni official later named him as Hussein al-Jirdani and said he was one of Shamlan's bodyguards.

Yemen, the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been battling al Qaeda linked militants for years and tomorrow's election follows foiled attempts to blow up oil and gas facilities in the country last week.

Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1990 and is expected to win the election, has made security a cornerstone of his campaign. Yemen is a U S ally and has cracked down on al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and bombings at home.

Shamlan, a former oil minister, is one of five candidates running in the election and appears to be Saleh's only serious challenger.

Apart from Shalman and the President, the other candidates are independents, two of whom are pro-government.

REUTERS DKA BS1659