Yemeni authorities arrested on Monday a US citizen in the southern province of Shabwa and referred him to the political security for investigation, an independent source said quoting a statement by a local security source.

The authorities suspected the American might have links to terrorist groups in the country, it said.

"The US citizen was arrested while having a meal in a hotel, but his entry into Ataq, the capital of Shabwa, was unclear, suspicious," it quoted the official as saying.

"He has a true American ID but the authorities has not had an idea when and why he came to Ataq," the source, who asked not to be named, said. "Only investigators can find out about his entry into the area".

The Yemeni army launched in April-May a US-backed offensive and drove Al-Qaeda militants out of their strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces.

"If this guy is found having links with terrorists, his story will remind the people of the US-Yemeni cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, AQAP's most dangerous English-speaking propagandist.

Al-Awlaki was killed in an airstrike by a US drone in late last year after concerns started to grow he could recruit Western Jihadists through online radicalization.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni authorities are continuing a massive hunt for Al-Qaeda operatives who were reported to have planned to regroup after the severe blows amid deadly suicide bombings in key parts of the country including the capital Sanaa and the business capital of Aden.