HIGHLIGHTS: One Suspect Dies of Wounds in Hospital, a Second and 2 Security Officers Being Treated for Wounds After Gunfight||Other Members of the Group Fled During Fight, Security Forces Combing Rawdah Suburb||Authorities Holding 85 People Arrested in Manhunt for al-Qaeda Members||Amnesty International Accuses Yemen of Human Rights Violations Detaining Children as Young as 12|| STORY: Yemen is holding four Yemeni men on suspicion of links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network following a shootout between the suspects and security forces, a security official said on Saturday.

He said one of five suspects, identified as Yahya Saleh Mejali, also known as Abu Saif, died in hospital and a second suspect and two security officers were being treated for wounds after the gunfight broke out late on Friday when forces raided the men's hideout in a northern suburb of the capital Sanaa.

"One of the suspects has died in hospital and investigations have started with the others," the official told Reuters.
He declined to give the other suspects' names but said they were between 25 and 35 years old.

The official said authorities suspect that other members of the group fled during the gunfight. He said security forces continued to comb Rawdah suburb.

Yemen is keen to shake off its reputation as a haven for Muslim militants and has said it was holding 85 people arrested in a manhunt for members of al Qaeda, blamed by Washington for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The U.S. is also still hunting for guerrillas responsible for the October 2000 attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen's Aden harbour, which killed 17 American sailors.

Yemen on Wednesday dismissed reports that U.S. special forces could launch covert operations in Yemen against militants believed to have fled Afghanistan. The Arab state said it would use only its own troops to hunt down al Qaeda suspects.

Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said in remarks published on Saturday in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily that Yemeni forces were still chasing a small number of Qaeda suspects.

"Yemen recently set up 13 security centers in remote areas and will expand these operations because we believe that in this way we will be able to follow these elements which are still hiding among tribesmen," Qirbi told the newspaper.

Yemen's parliament last week set up a commission to probe alleged human rights violations by Yemeni security forces in their crackdown on supporters of bin Laden, a Saudi born dissident.

Amnesty International has said thousands of people have been detained, including academics, journalists and children as young as 12.

PHOTO CAPTION

American military helicopters are parked at a U.S. Army base in Djibouti Friday, Sept. 20, 2002. Some 800 U.S. troops have been sent to Djibouti, a fromer French colony in the Horn of Africa, to pursue any suspected members of al-Qaida in the region. Djibouti is viewed as strategically important in the war on terrorism as it is close to Yemen, and shares a border with Somalia, and has coasts on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)