Yemen says arrests Saudi financer of al Qaeda

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen has arrested a man described as al Qaeda's top financer in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a security source told Reuters on Sunday.

Separately, a government source said nine foreigners, including seven Germans, were kidnapped in the Saada area of north Yemen.

Militant activity in Yemen, a revolt in the north and a secessionist movement in the south has unsettled Western governments and Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia brought an al Qaeda campaign of violence launched in the kingdom in 2003 under control, but fears are that Yemen will become the staging post for a revival of the effort to destabilise the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family.

Saudi national Hassan Hussein Alwan was seized two days ago in Marib province in eastern Yemen, the security source said.

A security official cited in a statement by the Yemeni embassy in Washington that described Alwan's arrest as "a major coup in the war on al Qaeda".

"Alwan's arrest will be instrumental in understanding the system of global terrorism financing. He is expected to be an intelligence mine for information which will hopefully result in the capture or killing of al Qaeda militants," the embassy said.

According to the government source, the nine foreigners were seized in the Saada area, just days after 24 medical workers were taken hostage but released within a day.

The source said one of the Germans was a doctor at a local hospital which the other Germans, including his three children, were visiting. The defence ministry said in its online newspaper "September 26" that Saada rebels carried out the kidnapping.