LONDON -- Yemen needs logistical support to help fight al-Qaeda but will not allow foreign covert operations against the global insurgent group on its territory, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told the BBC on Tuesday. The government in Sana'a declared open war on al-Qaeda this month, stepping up airstrikes and security sweeps after a regional arm of the insurgent group based in Yemen said they were behind a failed December 25 bid to blow up a US-bound airliner. But in the interview, Qirbi ruled out allowing a US military base on Yemeni soil or covert foreign operations in the country. "We will undertake it ourselves. Why do we need outside soldiers to fight when we can do the fight ourselves?" said Qirbi in the interview broadcast on Tuesday. He said the government had mistakenly allowed foreign intervention in 2002, when a US missile strike killed an al-Qaeda leader suspected of planning the 2000 suicide bombing of the US warship Cole. "It proved to be a terrible mistake, and this is why we don't want to repeat it. We have to do it ourselves and anybody who is interested will have to support us," Qirbi said. US defence and counter-terrorism officials said Washington had been quietly supplying military equipment, intelligence and training to Yemen to destroy suspected al-Qaeda hide-outs. Qirbi rejected any suggestion that the government had allowed al-Qaeda to flourish in the country by refusing to confront insurgents in the past. "Yemen has always tackled al-Qaeda. But it doesn't mean because there was a period of no confrontation that it hasn't been battling al-Qaeda, because we've been battling it through dialogue and through many different means," he said. He praised a Saudi programme that involves counseling and reintegrating insurgents into society …quot; an idea that Yemen pioneered, but now says it lacks the resources to pursue. Yemen's government has previously talked of dialogue with al-Qaeda on condition that militants lay down their weapons first. Meanwhile, a Yemeni court sentenced on Tuesday seven suspected al-Qaeda members between five and ten years in jail after convicting them of plotting to attack foreign interests and tourists. The seven were arrested while preparing explosives and monitoring tourist buses to attack them, according to police. Their trial began on October 17. They were convicted of "plotting to form an armed gang to execute criminal acts targeting foreign tourists and interests and government installments", according to the verdic
