U.S. says Yemen raid allowed embassy opening

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SANAA (Reuters) –The American embassy in Yemen reopened on Tuesday after a raid near Sanaa that killed two al Qaeda militants dealt with specific security concerns which had forced U.S. and European missions to close, the embassy said.Violence flared in the Yemen-Saudi border area, where Shi'ite rebels waging a revolt against the central government said a series of Saudi air strikes on a market had flattened shops and homes, killing two people and wounding three more.Yemen, the poorest Arab country, was thrust into the foreground of the U.S.-led war against Islamist militants after a Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda said it was behind a Christmas Day bomb attempt on a U.S.-bound plane.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said fighting in Yemen was a threat to regional and global stability."Successful counter-terrorism operations conducted by Government of Yemen security forces January 4 north of the capital have addressed a specific area of concern, and have contributed to the embassy's decision to resume operations," the U.S. embassy said in a statement.It said the embassy, a fortified structure with big concrete slabs to guard against attacks, reopened after a two-day closure prompted by credible information pointing to the "likelihood of imminent terrorist attacks in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa".Placed strategically on the Arabian Peninsula's southern rim, Yemen is trying to fight a threat from resurgent al Qaeda fighters while a Shi'ite revolt rages in the north and separatist sentiment simmers in the south.The West and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda will take advantage of Yemen's instability to spread its operations to the neighboring kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter, and beyond. Yemen itself produces a small amount of oil.The British and French embassies also resumed operations on Tuesday but remained closed to the public, diplomats at those missions said.Yemen beefed up security measures around embassies and residential areas where foreigners live, state media said. Residents said no extra security was apparent at the already heavily fortified U.S. mission, where twin suicide car bombs killed 16 people in 2008."The Ministry of Interior emphasizes that all embassies, diplomatic missions and foreign companies are fully secured and there is nothing to be worried about," a ministry source told the state news agency.THREAT OF ATTACKSYemeni forces killed at least two al Qaeda militants on Monday they said were behind the threat that forced the foreign embassies to close, and President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Yemen was "ready to confront and defeat anyone thinking of harming the country and its security".Yemen, with shrinking oil reserves, a water crisis and fast-growing population, had already stepped up security on its coastline to block entry to militants from reaching its shores from Somalia, and said it was closely monitoring al Qaeda militants in two provinces."Nevertheless, the threat of terrorist attacks against American interests remains high and the embassy continues to urge its citizens in Yemen to be vigilant and take prudent security measures," the U.S. mission said.Defense and counterterrorism officials say Washington has quietly been supplying military equipment, intelligence and training to Yemen to root out suspected al Qaeda hide-outs.U.S. President Barack Obama has asked for as much as $63 million in aid for Yemen in 2010 -- up from about $40 million in 2009, the State Department said. Yemen also received an additional $67 million in special funds earmarked to support its counterterrorism and border control efforts in 2009.U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, who visited Yemen in August, said an American working in Yemen told him that "Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war and if we do not act pre-emptively now, Yemen will be tomorrow's war." Lieberman was speaking on a visit to Baghd