Official: FBI director Mueller in Yemen for talks

SANAA, Egypt (AP) -- Yemen says FBI director Robert Mueller has held talks with Yemen's new president on the fight against al-Qaida militants in the impoverished Arab nation.

Yahya al-Arasi, a spokesman for President Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi, said Mueller and the Yemeni leader had a 45-minute meeting on Tuesday in which they discussed the battle against al-Qaida, particularly in the southern Abyan province.

The meeting came hours after news that Yemeni government forces fought their way into the center of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital that has been held by al-Qaida since May last year.

The United States says al-Qaida's Yemen branch is the terror network's most dangerous.