ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The pro-government Yemeni forces busted on Tuesday a five-member terrorist cell in the country's southeastern province of Hadramout, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The Defense Ministry's news website, 26th September, reported that the armed force coordinated with the Saudi-led Arab coalition and managed to bust a terror cell and seize five terrorists along with a large cache of arms and explosives in Hadramout.

The pro-government Yemeni forces raided a house in Qatan district of Hadramout and found that it was used by the terrorists as a workshop for manufacturing improvising explosive devices (IEDs), the statement said.

A large cache of arms, a car bomb, telecom devices and fake identification cards (IDs) were seized during the anti-terror operation conducted in Hadramout, according to the Defence Ministry's statement.

A government official based in Hadramout confirmed to Xinhua by phone saying that the initial investigations revealed that the suspects were responsible for recruiting young people to carry out a number of drive-by shootings in Hadramout.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) network, mostly operating in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country.

Provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, former main strongholds of AQAP, have also witnessed sporadic attacks or heavy clashes between newly-recruited security forces and al-Qaida militants.

The AQAP, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in southeastern provinces. Enditem

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