Yemeni security forces have arrested two French citizens believed to be members of an al Qaeda cell in Yemen, an official security source told Reuters on Friday, reports Reuters.
The men - identified as Mourad Abdulla Abad and Taha al-Issawi, both French citizens of Tunisian origin - were arrested on Thursday while trying to leave through one of the Yemen's airports, the source said.
Paris confirmed two of its citizens had been arrested.
"France is cooperating closely with the Yemeni authorities in the fight against terrorist activities on its soil," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Western countries fear that further destabilization in Yemen, which faces separatists in the south and unrest in the north, could give more space to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local branch of the global Islamist movement, to plot attacks on international targets.
Read more of this report from Reuters.