Yemen holds security talk with top US general

Yemen's president met a top U.S. general on Saturday to discuss boosting military cooperation, after President Barack Obama tied al-Qaeda's regional arm to the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger jet.

U.S. General David Petraeus met Saleh for talks focusing on strengthening security, military and economic cooperation, an official said. Petraeus, who heads the U.S. Central Command, also handed over a letter from Obama.

Details of the letter were not released but on Friday Obama said al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, had trained, equipped and directed the Nigerian who tried to bomb the flight heading for the U.S. city of Detroit.

U.S. officials have said they were looking at ways to expand military and intelligence cooperation with Yemen, the poorest Arab state, to root out al-Qaeda leadership in the country.

The Yemeni government dispatched security forces and army to the eastern provinces of Abyan, Bayda and Shabwa, hideouts of al-Qaeda, while the alert level was raised, according to security sources in Marib, east of Sanaa.

"These measures are part of operations to hunt down elements of al-Qaeda, prevent any attempt of a response after the raids, and tighten the noose around extremists," one of the sources said.

Yemen said its forces killed more than 60 suspected Islamic militants belonging to Al-Qaeda in operations on December 17 and 24 in the country's central and Sanaa regions.

These measures are part of operations to hunt down elements of al-Qaeda, prevent any attempt of a response after the raids, and tighten the noose around extremists

Yemeni security sources

UK, US assistance

Meanwhile, the United States and Britain have agreed to fund a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen as part of stepped-up efforts to fight terrorism in Yemen and Somalia after an attack on a U.S.-bound plane, Britain said late on Saturday.

Civil war and lawlessness have turned Yemen, the Arab world's poorest state, into a base for al-Qaeda, U.S. officials say, while the al-Qaeda-inspired militant group al-Shabaab has taken control of large areas of south and central Somalia.

The United States and Britain agreed to intensify joint work to tackle the "emerging terrorist threat" from both countries, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said.

"Amongst the initiatives the prime minister has agreed with President (Barack) Obama is U.S.-UK funding for a special counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen," it said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Brown could not say how much funding had been agreed, but U.S. Gen. Petraeus has said Washington would more than double its $70 million security assistance to Yemen.

Britain and the United States will also cooperate in supporting the Yemeni coast guard, Brown's office said.

International attention has focused on Yemen after the failed Christmas Day airline bomb attack.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who told U.S. investigators he was trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen, is accused of trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet as it approached Detroit.

Amongst the initiatives the prime minister has agreed with President Obama is U.S.-UK funding for a special counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen

Office of UK PM Gordon Brown