People and popular committees in Yemen’s southern Abyan province arrested 15 Al-Qaeda terrorists while planning to carry out terrorist and destructive attacks in Lawder city, Saba reported on Thursday.

Citing a security source in the city, the official news agency said that the arrests took place after the suspects put a bomb inside the car of member of one of the popular committees to blow up the hospital where the car was parked.

The people suspected the 15, arrested them and then contacted a military camp in the area which sent experts to defuse the bomb, it added.

The army has been battling Al-Qaeda or the Sharia supporters for months in Abyan and lately the tribes supported the army retaking cities from militants and leaving many of them killed, injured and arrested.

When the popular uprising started in Yemen six months ago, Al-Qaeda declared Abyan as an Islamic emirate retaking several cities and waging war against the army.

But the government responded quickly, as local skeptics said that there is no Al-Qaeda in the south and what is happening in Abyan remained a game amid the escalating protests seeking the ouster of the regime.

Meantime, the overall situation in Yemen has raised concerns that Al-Qaeda can exploit the political vacuum and expand its presence and operations in the country and pose threats to Yemen’s neighbors and friends.