SANAA, Yemen, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida suspects dressed in women's clothing were confronted and killed by guards at the border of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, according to officials.

The suspects, dressed in niqabs, or veils worn by Yemeni women to cover most of the face, were shot to death when the bus in which they rode was boarded by an inspecting guard. One of the militants opened fire, wounding the guard, and troops manning the checkpoint shot at least three to five of the disguised fighters, whom the bus driver claimed were al-Qaida members on their way to attack Saudi border guards, according to Yemeni officials.


The BBC reports that veiled Yemeni women often move through checkpoints without being searched.

The incident follows a July attack by al-Qaida militants on a Yemeni border post that killed six security officers.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the strongest arm of the global terrorist network, has been an active presence in Yemen, which already faces in-fighting between Shia Houthi rebels and the Sunni-led government.

The group "has orchestrated numerous high-profile terrorist attacks" according to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center:

One of the most notable of these operations occurred when AQAP dispatched Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight on 25 December 2009—the first attack inside the United States by an al-Qaida affiliate since 11 September 2001. That was followed by an attempted attack in which explosive-laden packages were sent to the United States on 27 October 2010.

Earlier this month, American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie were killed by their AQAP captors during a U.S. special forces raid to recover Somers.