SANAA, Oct 1: Yemeni forces killed on Sunday two Al Qaeda fugitives who had been sentenced to death for an attack on the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002, officials said.

They said forces killed Fawaz al-Rabe’ie and Mohamed Daylami after they raided two buildings in Sanaa where the men were hiding. Forces also arrested an aide to Rabe’ie and were questioning him.

Rabe’ie and Daylami were convicted for the 2002 attack in which a boat laden with explosives rammed the tanker, killing one of the crew. They were also two of 23 inmates, including 13 al Qaeda militants, who escaped their jail in the capital Sanaa last February.

The jailbreak raised questions about Yemen’s security measures among its Western allies and was an embarrassment for Sanaa which has cracked down on militants in the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden and joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Officials say 11 of the fugitives have since surrendered to authorities or were captured by police, four — including Rabe’ie and Daylami — have been killed and only eight militants remain on the run.

The government has offered a $25,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of any of the fugitives. Last month, Yemen broke up an al Qaeda-linked cell that was behind foiled attacks on oil and gas installations.

The bombers were killed when security forces blew up four rigged cars before they reached their targets in the eastern provinces of Marib and Hadramout.

Militant attacks in Yemen include the suicide bombing in 2000 of the U.S. warship Cole, which killed 17 sailors.—Reuters