AFP - US military intervention in Yemen to help fight Al-Qaeda militants could backfire and strengthen the jihadist network in the Arabian peninsula, a top Yemeni official warned on Thursday.

"Any intervention or direct (military) action by the United States could strengthen the Al-Qaeda network and not weaken it," deputy prime minister for defence and security affairs Rashed Al-Aleemi told a press conference.

"Our position is clear; we will fight and chase the Al-Qaeda group depending on Yemeni forces and security agencies," he said.

Aleemi however said that Yemen needs the United States to help in training Yemeni counter-terrorism units.

"Since Al-Qaeda is a global organisation that threatens international stability, all countries in the world, headed by the United States, must cooperate to confront them," he said.

"All we need from the United States is training and providing weapons and equipment to counter-terrorism units and they are capable of liquidating Al-Qaeda and all terror elements," Aleemi said.

He said Sanaa's security cooperation with Washington is based on the exchange of information. The same applies to Saudi Arabia, he added.

Long-standing concerns that Yemen, a country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, has become a haven for Islamic terror groups were thrown into sharp focus when a Nigerian man allegedly trained in Yemen was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet.

The botched Christmas Day attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which also urged attacks on Western interests in Yemen.

In the wake of the failed attack, General David Petraeus, the US regional military commander, went to Sanaa for talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Petraeus, according to the Saba news agency, reaffirmed Washington's support for Yemen in its efforts to fight terrorism and delivered a message from President Barack Obama related in particular to bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism and piracy.

A group of top US lawmakers on Wednesday urged Obama to ramp up aid to Yemen's military, saying they had lost trust in the country's ability to be a strong partner against terrorism.

"We no longer have confidence that the Yemeni government has the capacity to assist the United States in providing for our nation?s security," the senior Republicans on five key committees urged Obama in a letter.

Yemeni security forces insist they are winning the war against the jihadists, pointing to two separate air raids on their lairs in December which killed more than 60 suspected Al-Qaeda members.

On Wednesday, Yemeni officials announced the capture of a key Al-Qaeda leader and two other militants believed behind threats against Western interests in Sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days.

The interior ministry also said its security forces were repeatedly raiding hideouts of "terrorist elements" in several provinces and had turned their "fight against terrorism into a daily confrontation."

"(Security operations) are not leaving the terrorist elements the chance to take a breath or reorganise their lines," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

"Al-Qaeda elements are no longer the ones taking the initiative in deciding the time and place of confrontations," it said, adding that "painful and recurring strikes have forced Al-Qaeda to retreat to the holes."