Yemen says launches more air strikes on al Qaeda

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen carried out air strikes against what they said were al Qaeda targets in the south for a second day on Monday, and authorities in the north recovered the remains of five people whose identities were being checked.

There were no immediate reports of casualties following three strikes in Abyan province, where the government was targeting militants who may have been hiding in mountains dotted with caves, local officials and residents told Reuters.

"The air forces targeted with three raids the district of Lawdar in Abyan where there are believed to be al Qaeda elements," a local official told Reuters.

Abyan, where the state says it has been hunting al Qaeda, has seen an escalation in violence between southern separatists and government forces in recent weeks.

The government carried out a similar air strike there on Sunday, killing two top al Qaeda militants it said were planning attacks, although there was conflicting information about the death toll.

Yemen shot to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Western allies and neighboring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on multiple fronts in the impoverished country to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.

Southern opposition activists say Sanaa has been trying to link the separatist movement with al Qaeda, hoping to build support for its fight against domestic political foes.

Human Rights Watch has urged Sanaa to use caution when targeting militants to avoid civilian casualties, citing a December air strike against al Qaeda in south Yemen that Sanaa later acknowledged also killed more than 42 civilians.

BODIES FOUND IN NORTH

In northern Yemen, five bodies were recovered on Sunday and Monday after a Yemeni tribesman found several body parts in the Jawf province and handed them over to the authorities, a local source said.

The bodies were not thought to belong to a group of Europeans taken hostage last year, although the Defense Ministry said the government would conduct DNA tests to determine their identities.

A German family of five and a Briton are missing in Yemen, held by kidnappers who the government believes have links to al Qaeda.

The missing Europeans were among a group of nine foreigners kidnapped in the neighboring northern region of Saada last June, of which three women -- two Germans and a South Korean -- were later found dead.

"Information so far is that the bodies do not belong to the hostages," a government official told Reuters. The Yemeni Defense Ministry's online newspaper said the bodies were believed to be of Somalis.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that at the moment there was no way of saying who the people were.

"We must, however, of course be braced for anything," Westerwelle said, adding German officials were also looking into the matter.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, which occurred in an area where Shi'ite rebels have been fighting government troops on and off since 2004.

That conflict, which drew in oil exporter Saudi Arabia in November, appears to have calmed down following a ceasefire agreement but analysts say peace is unlikely to last.

The Shi'ite rebels have denied carrying out the kidnapping.

(Additional reporting by Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa and Thorsten Severin in Berlin; writing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Cynthia Johnston; editing by Noah Barkin)