Saada (Yemen), March 4 (IANS/AKI) Yemeni security forces have arrested 11 Al Qaeda suspects in the capital Sanaa, killing one man during the operation, security officials said Thursday.

According to the Yemeni news agency Saba, the father of one of the suspects opened fire on security forces before being shot dead.

Two policemen were killed and a third was injured in the operation.

Yemen began an intensified campaign against Al Qaeda in late December after the terror network's local arm said it was behind a failed attempt to blow up a US airliner Dec 25.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross has expressed concern about the welfare of thousands of people affected by the conflict between the government and Shia Houthi rebels in the north of the country.

Since a ceasefire was concluded between the Yemeni government and the Houthis Feb 11, the Red Cross said international organisations were struggling to deal with the demand for services as displaced people tried to return home.

The Red Cross said in the past two weeks it had provided 4,200 newly displaced people and more than 1,600 residents with urgently needed tents, tarpaulins, blankets and other necessities.

The World Food Programme distributed food to around 14,700 displaced people in Mandaba camp in the district of Baqem, near the Saudi border.

More than 22,500 people are currently living in five camps run by the Yemen Red Crescent and the Red Cross.

"We are now trying to help people we had been unable to reach because of the ongoing fighting," said Annabelle Boetcher, the deputy head of the Red Cross in Yemen.

For the last month, Washington has been abuzz with talk about what the United States government should do about Yemen. Should the U.S. give Ye­men more military aid? Should it begin a large-scale economic assistance pro­gram? Should it help Yemen establish a governmental reform program, help implement a de-radicalization program, or boost special forces training? Yemen is a weak and poor nation, and the United States is a strong and wealthy one. With the right package of assistance, most assume, we can work together on shared goals.

The reality is messier than that, though. From a Yemeni perspective, the common threats are few. For Yemen's long-serving president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, al-Qaida in the Ara­bian Peninsula is a third-order issue, far less troubling than boiling insurgencies in the north and south of the country, swiftly dwindling oil rev­enues, a plummeting water table and massive unemployment. In fact, to many among Yemeni's leadership, al-Qaida's 200 to 300 followers in the country must seem to be less a threat than an opportunity. An increased U.S. military commitment to Ye­men would pump weapons and training into the country that can be employed against a wide range of threats that have nothing to do with al-Qaida. A flood of money would create opportunities not only for contracting, but for graft, corruption and ex­tortion. ...