By DPA,

Sanaa : Yemeni security forces have arrested a member of the Egyptian militant Jihad group believed to have connections to terrorists behind a series of recent attacks against US targets here, a news report said Saturday.

An anti-terrorism unit captured the Egyptian man, identified as Muhammad Yaqout, in a sting operation in Sanaa last week, the RayNews website said, quoting a police source.

The unnamed source said Yaqout was a leading Jihad member and that he was linked to two mortar attacks that targeted the US embassy in Sanaa March 18 and a residential compound housing US and Western citizens April 6.

Interior ministry officials were not available for comment.

Yaqout was arrested in capital Sanaa last August as part of a crackdown on Yemeni and foreign suspected militants after a suicide car bombing attack against a convoy of Spanish tourist in the north-central province of Marib July 2 2007.

He was released two months later after investigations showed that he had no links to the attack that left eight Spanish tourists dead.