Five Italians kidnapped

2006-01-01 18:55

Sanaa - Five Italian men were taken hostage by Yemeni tribesmen on Sunday, the day after a German family of five was freed following a hostage ordeal, said a security source.

The source said: "We have received a report of the kidnapping of five Italians, all men, in Sirwa in the region of Marib", 170km east of Sanaa.

He said the tribe that kidnapped them "could not be identified as yet".

But, a tribal source said the captors belonged to the al-Zayidi tribe, and that they were demanding the release of eight members of their tribe imprisoned for a tribal vendetta.

Hostages freed

Tribesmen had captured a number of Italians in the past.

A former German top diplomat and his family who were taken hostage by Yemeni tribesmen in the east of the country were freed on Saturday after security forces laid siege to the kidnappers' hideout.

Juergen Chrobog - a former ambassador and foreign ministry number two - and his wife and three sons were freed after the arrest of their four captors.

In December, two Austrian tourists were held hostage for three days also in Marib region.

Hostages released unharmed

In November, tribesmen in the same area briefly held two Swiss holidaymakers.

Nearly all of the kidnappings in Yemen had been carried out by tribesmen seeking to put pressure on the central government and the hostages had generally been released unharmed.

However, three Britons and an Australian seized by Islamist militants were killed after security forces stormed their hideout in December 1998.

Despite its proximity to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen was one of the world's poorest countries and more than 200 foreigners had been kidnapped in the past decade.

- AFP