The U.S. said on Wednesday it has started implementing a new strategy of security and intelligence cooperation with Yemen aimed at rooting out Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP.

The announcement came days after the organization, which has recently been described as more dangerous than the main Al-Qaeda Group of Bin Laden in Afghanistan, vowed more small-scale attacks against western interests, mainly U.S., within its strategy of a thousand cuts.

Our objective is to prevent AQAP militants from using Yemen's territory as a base to launch more terrorist attacks in the region and the world, State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin said, as he met with reporters at the State Department's Foreign Press Center.

Washington asked regional countries to work even more cooperatively on counterterrorism, he said, pointing out that the U.S. policy towards Yemen is based on two factors: to assist the country in developing its civil institutions and addressing its economic and political problems.

The new strategy was triggered by the mail bombs that were intercepted in late October in London and Dubai onboard freight planes while on their way to the U.S.

After the packages, which triggered global scare and alert, we started to work with Yemeni forces to thwart terrorist operations and hunt militants wherever they exist on Yemen's soil, he said. "We have a large counterterrorism base in Yemen that we called Mission 10."

We are happy that Yemen is determined to face terrorism, and we see the Yemeni government is playing a key role in facing the serious threat of AQAP, he told reporters.

"We also have a good training and equipment programme for the Yemeni forces that will be implemented in four years. The outcomes of this programme have started to come out."

The remarks coincided with local reports that U.S. drones were seen over Shabwa areas in southeastern Yemen, but no strikes were carried out.

Yemen has recently stepped up the war on terror launching large-scale operations and a massive hunt for militants, mainly in southern and southeastern regions.

Many suspects have been killed, wounded and arrested.