Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs Rashad Al-Alimi said on Wednesday that Al-Qaeda was seeking to establish Islamic states in Yemen and the recent operations targeted its training sites.

The statement came as Al-Alimi presented a report on the recent operations on Al-Qaeda hideouts and training sites in the south and north, previously urged by Parliament.

The organization has been planning and carrying out terrorist attacks for years in the republic and all come within its schemes to use some provinces as heartlands for terrorist operations, he said.

Al-Alimi also told Parliament that last Thursday's raids on terrorist hideouts and training sites in district of Almahfad in Abyan and Arhab in Sana'a came after a tip-off coordinated by Yemeni and foreign intelligence agencies.

However, the ground and air strikes that killed dozens of Al-Qaeda suspects were carried out by Yemeni troops without any foreign troops involved, but there was intelligence cooperation between Yemen and other countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, he made clear.

Other 29 terrorist suspects were arrested in the early Thursday operations.

The security authorities obtained information there was an Al-Qaeda site in the remote mountainous district of Almahfad in Abyan and then raided it, he said, adding 23 terrorists were killed including Saudis, Pakistanis and Egyptians.

Days after the site was raided by anti-terrorism troops, Al-Qaeda planted the site with mines to ambush policemen who should have arrived at it to investigate the results of the attacks after some civilians were reported among the dead.

The decision to attack the site was by the Yemeni authorities alone, he said, expressing regret for the possibly civilian deaths.

If civilians emerged to be affected, they would be compensated but in the light of the outcomes of a fact finding committee led by the governor of Abyan.

The probe into the operation is still underway, he said.

And the raids in Arhab north of Sana'a, he said, came after a tip-off that there were would-be suicide bombers who had planned to attack domestic and foreign interests including schools inside the country.

Among the would-be attacked targets was the British embassy in Sana'a and the terrorist plans were about to be put into effect, he said.

Three were killed in the raids that also targeted the suspects who planned to provide logistic support for the would-be suicide bombers and the result was that 14 others were arrested.

On the other hand, Al-Alimi, who is also Minister of Local Administration, criticized the national and foreign media over after reports the country has become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda.

He touched upon major efforts exerted by the government to tackle terrorists assuring the authorities can't rest until all terrorists eradicated.

Al-Qaeda has carried out 61 terrorist attacks in Yemen since 1992, targeting vital domestic and foreign interests and tourists and security officials, he said, many were terror-victimized.

Thursday's raids were hailed by regional and world countries topped by the U.S. as a model, amid fears of Al-Qaeda's plans to use Yemen as a reserve base.

After the raids, reports surfaced the U.S. supported Yemen to implement the operations in the south and north in which about 34 suspects were killed.