Yemen jails 5 al Qaida suspects up to 10 years

A Yemeni court on Wednesday sentenced five al-Qaida suspects to up to 10 years in prison for planning a deadly suicide bombing on the security forces that killed more than 100 soldiers last year. The state-run Saba news agency said the Sanaa-based court sentenced Eyad Hammadi and Majid Hizam to 10 years in prison, Hisham Sharabi and Abduljalil Matary to seven years, and Bilal Absi to two years in Jail. Four other defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence, after they were arrested in June 2012. On May 21, 2012, a suicide bomber packing with powerful explosives under his military uniform blew himself up when the soldiers were rehearsing for an army parade in al-Sabeen Square in Sanaa, killing more than 100 soldiers and injuring hundreds of others. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack. The government has arrested and tried scores of al-Qaida suspects since the beginning of this year as part of a US backed anti-terrorism campaign.