A Yemen cleric warns against foreign occupation

An influential Yemeni cleric has warned the country not to allow “occupation” by foreign powers as it co-operates with the US in counter-terrorism.

Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, named as a terrorist by the US and the UN for suspected links to al-Qaeda, said Yemen rejected “the return of colonialism”.

The US has vowed to continue to support Yemen in its fight against militants, but says it will not send troops there.

Zindani, head of al-Iman University, a Sunni religious school in the capital Sanaa, was listed as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the US Treasury Department and the UN in 2004, but Yemen has taken no steps to freeze his assets. BBC