SANAA, - (Reuters)

Yemen is building a coastguard base on an island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait to protect traffic in the crucial shipping lane that links Europe and Asia, the Yemeni coastguard said on Sunday.

Yemen, at the forefront of Western security concerns since a failed al Qaeda attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December, boosted security at coastal facilities earlier this year to guard against possible militant attacks.

In February, the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a blockade of the strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel.

Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean also have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers.

The base will be located on the island of Miyoun -- previously known as Perim -- and construction began at the start of the year, a coastguard source told Reuters.

"The station will protect the movements of ships in the Bab al-Mandab strait," the source said on condition of anonymity, without giving further details.

Yemen's location at the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula places it near one of the world's busiest shipping corridors that leads to the Suez Canal.

More than 3 million barrels of oil pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait daily from the Gulf on its way to Europe and the United States. Western allies and neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on several fronts in impoverished Yemen to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.

Militants bombed the U.S. Navy warship USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000. Two years later an al Qaeda attack damaged the French supertanker Limburg in the Gulf of Aden.