Yemeni forces capture tourist attack suspects

SANAA, Aug 13 (Reuters) Yemeni security forces captured several militants today who were believed to have been involved in an attack that killed eight Spanish tourists last month, a security official said.

The official said the dawn raid was carried out using helicopters in Abyan, an area of wooded mountains in Yemen's southeast. He was not immediately able to give more details.

On Wednesday, Yemeni security forces killed four al-Qaeda militants who were believed to have been involved in the suicide bombing of the Spanish tour bus at the Queen of Sheba Temple in the province of Marib.

Since then, gunmen have attacked a power station and security patrols in the same region.

Yemen, ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is viewed in the West as a haven for Islamist militants.

The US embassy in Sanaa has said there is now a risk of the kind of attacks previously unseen in Yemen -- a reference to the attack at the temple.

Yemen has previously said its security forces killed an Egyptian who helped mastermind the attack, carried out by a 21-year-old Yemeni man, Abdou Mohammad Rahiqa.

Yemen, which joined the US.led war on terrorism after al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, is one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

It has been trying to encourage tourists put off by kidnappings and bombings, and to boost foreign investment as oil output dwindles.

REUTERS SKB ND1556