Yemen Jails 12 Al-Qaeda members

A court in Yemen has sentenced 12 alleged Al-Qaeda members to between four and seven years in jail.

The 12 were charged with forming an armed group, planning attacks, and procuring passports with the aim of using them to join Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.

They also were accused of sheltering Al-Qaeda militants from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

Yemen has intensified a military campaign against Al-Qaeda's local organization, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, since it claimed responsibility for a failed effort on December 25, 2009 to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner.

compiled from agency reports