(AKI) -Yemeni al-Qaeda cell spokesman Ahmad Mansour has said that the government asked it to fight a Shia rebel group in the North of the country, local newspaper al-Wasat reported. "They [the government] have asked us to fight against the followers of Imam al-Houthi of Saada. In return, Yemeni security forces will ease the persecution of our members," said Mansour.Mansour added that al-Qaeda members are present in various locations throughout Yemen and have always had contact with the government, through Sheikhs and tribal leaders. "Sheikh Osama bin Laden ordered us not to attack [the government] in the country and to combat only the communists, but the relationship with the government soured after the end of the war with Southern Yemen in 1994." said the al-Qaeda militant. Mansour added that the United States still was their number-one enemy and that attacks against tourists could be carried out.