The Yemeni Ministry of Interior said Tuesday its services had arrested 54 suspected members of terrorist cells associated to Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula since last February.

The security services dismantled more than 10 such cells including a nine-member cell. The nine militants are four Egyptians, two Jordanians, a Tunisian, a Somali and one from Dagestan; they are involved in the insurgency against the government forces in the southern governorate of Abyan, the ministry said in a statement here.

The terrorist cells conspired to launch serious attacks against military and security leaders, vital local facilities, and foreign embassies and interests nationwide.

They are also accused of involvement in the deadly bombing which targeted a military parade at Al-Sabeen Square, downtown Sanaa on May 21, 2012. Investigations proved that one of the accomplices is an officer of the central security forces who facilitated the entry of the suicide bomber into the square where more than 100 military personnel were killed and 300 others were injured, according to the statement.

The dismantled cells also include the one involved in the assassination of a senior security officer and the US teacher Joel Shrum, a 29-year-old native of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, in Taiz governorate, central Yemen in last March.