SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen has detained scores of people as it widens its investigation into possible links to Osama bin Laden, named by Washington as the prime suspect in the attacks on the United States, security officials said Monday.
The officials said some of the arrests were based on information supplied by the United States and the suspects were still under interrogation.
``What we are doing is part of existing cooperation with the American administration after the attacks on New York and Washington,'' one official told Reuters.
Another official said the arrests also included ``any Yemeni who had visited Afghanistan at any given time.''
He added that: ``Arabs and foreigners suspected of being 'Afghan Arabs' are deported to the countries where they came from.''
The so-called Afghan Arabs fought, as did bin Laden, with Islamic groups in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s.
Asked if the detainees had any connection with last year's suicide attack against a U.S. warship in Aden, one official said: ``Everything is possible, but nothing has been proven yet and the investigation is continuing.''
Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed in the October attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole. Washington says bin Laden was a suspect in the attack, for which he has also denied involvement. (Read photo caption below)
The officials said Sanaa was still holding many Yemenis arrested after the Cole attack. U.S. investigators probing the Cole bombing left a day after the September 11 attacks, apparently fearing fresh attacks in Yemen.
The impoverished Arab country is a stronghold of Islamist groups despite government efforts to curb their activities.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The U.S. Navy relaunched the USS Cole in Pascagoula, Miss., Friday, Sept. 14, 2001, a day ahead of schedule. The Cole, heavily damaged during a terrorist attack in October in Yemen, has been undergoing repairs since March at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. (AP Photo/US Navy)
- Sep 14 9:49 PM ET