Yemen arrests 2 Frenchmen over suspected al-Qaida links

A Yemeni man pasts a sticker on his traditional al-Janbiah dagger with Arabic writing of "Nothing but Muhammad" during a protest against caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo in front of the French Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. AP

A Yemeni man pasts a sticker on his traditional al-Janbiah dagger with Arabic writing of “Nothing but Muhammad” during a protest against caricatures published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo in front of the French Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. AP

SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s national security chief says authorities have arrested two French citizens suspected of being members of al-Qaida, without mentioning whether they were involved in this month’s attack on a French newspaper.

Gen. Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi says the two were arrested on charges of belonging to the militant group.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, Sanaa, he said that al-Qaida has around 1,000 members in Yemen, from 11 different Arab and non-Arab countries.

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