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A top Yemeni al Qaeda suspect was sentenced to death Monday, journalists present at the sentencing told CNN.
Saleh al-Shawsh was one of the top three most wanted members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the terror group calls itself in Yemen, the journalists said.
Yemen has become a main battleground for al Qaeda, with the government carrying out air strikes and a ground campaign against the group this weekend.
A top U.S. counterterror official recently visited Yemen to show Washington's support for the campaign against al Qaeda.
President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, met the president of Yemen a month ago to discuss al Qaeda and U.S. support for Yemen, the U.S. Embassy announced at the time.
Brennan delivered a letter to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh affirming U.S. support for Yemen, the embassy said.
Al Qaeda activity in Yemen grabbed the attention of the West with the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines trans-Atlantic flight as it approached Detroit, Michigan.
The suspect, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who has pleaded not guilty to six federal terrorism charges, was reportedly trained and armed in Yemen.
The Obama administration is considering adding armed CIA drones to help fight the increasing threat of al Qaeda in Yemen, a U.S. official said in August.
A counterterrorism official told CNN that the administration recognizes that "not enough is being done in Yemen" to meet the growing challenge posed by AQAP.
Yemen has launched at least two offensives against the group since then, including one this weekend.
"Yemen's security forces have been in engaged in a ground and air campaign for two days in Abyan province against al Qaeda," a government official told CNN Sunday. CNN is not naming the official, who is not authorized to speak to the press about the campaign.
The official said the battle is fierce and bloody and is part of a larger low-intensity conflict with AQAP.
The airstrikes began on Saturday and continued Sunday, the official said.
The campaign follows "an attempt by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to kill the governor and junior regional security officials this past week," the official said.
At least six militants have been killed, the official said, as the airstrikes targeted militant gatherings in the province's Lawdar and Moudeya districts.
"Western embassies in Sana'a were put on high security alert -- especially the British and American embassies," the official said, referring to Yemen's capital. "The government of Yemen has increased security outside those embassies and they were heavily fortified in fears of AQAP retaliation."
Tribesmen from Abyan province are supporting the provincial governor after AQAP killed his brother in an ambush aimed at assassinating the governor himself, the official said.
Saturday night, two suicide bombers were killed after their vehicle, which was rigged with explosives, attempted to ram a military motorcade in Moudeya, the official said.
The car exploded after Yemeni forces shot at the suspicious vehicle with high-caliber machine guns.
On Friday, the Interior Ministry offered a reward of 20 million Yemeni riyal (about U.S. $100,000) for information leading to the capture of eight suspected members of al Qaeda in Yemen.
The nation's official Saba news agency identified the eight, urging the public to cooperate and warning citizens not to shelter any of the suspects.
And a wanted al Qaeda in Yemen member turned himself in to Saudi Arabian authorities on Friday, Saudi Arabia's official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing a security spokesman at the country's Ministry of Interior.
The statement added that the man, Jaber bin Jibran bin Ali al-Afifi, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, had rejoined al Qaeda in Yemen after he had returned from captivity.
In the past week, AQAP is suspected of being behind three separate attacks that have killed at least two Yemeni security officials, according to a government official.
Last week also saw the release of an audio recording purported to be from Qassim al-Rimi (also known as Abu Hurira al-Sanaei), the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, that was posted on radical militant websites.
The speaker promised that Yemen's President Saleh would be punished "for his crimes" and announced that a new army would rid the country of "crusaders and apostates." CNN could not verify the authenticity of the recording.