SANA’A, Aug. 11 — Yemeni coastal forces joined together to increase security measures along the Gulf of Aden through intensifying patrols and inspections of boats arriving from African nations.

Shuja’a Mahdi, the Operation Department head of the coastal forces, said these procedures were put in place in anticipation of the arrival of extremists from Somalia aiming to infiltrate Yemen and to support Ansar Al-Sharia, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Yemen.

Coastal forces intensified security procedures in reaction to a pledge by Islamist Somalis to send a number of fighters in support of Al-Qaeda members in the Arabian Peninsula, centering in remote rural areas of Yemen, Mahdi said. The promise of support came following the last strikes directed at Al-Qaeda by Yemen’s military.

“Patrols and inspections of coasts have been intensified; helicopters and thorough inspections of African boats to know the identities of those on board and the motives of their coming to Yemen were among the procedures,” Mahdi said.

The website Somali Today quoted Saeed Raji, minister of Ports and Anti-Piracy in Putland, as saying Somali security forces confiscated a boat loaded with smuggled weapons from Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen to Al-Qaeda militants in Somalia on Saturday.

Raji said the security forces confiscated the boat and the Yemeni man aboard.

He was also quoted as saying the boat carried explosives, rockets, firearms, ammunitions and rocket-propelled grenades; these weapons were smuggled and meant to arrive in the hands extremist Islamist youths in southern Somalia.

Last year, Al-Qaeda militants and the Youth Movement declared the integration of their forces.

In addition, coastal forces in Yemen warned against swimming in the water during the coming days because of a potential monsoon and strong tides that will last until the end of September.

The statement, released by coastal forces at the Gulf of Aden, said diving teams affiliated with the coastal forces in the Gulf of Aden found the body of a Yemeni man, Fadl Ahmed Mohmood Nasser, 28, who drowned in Gold Moor coast.

The statement noted that the diving teams rescued two other people who were drowning.