 Yemeni tribesmen holding five Italian tourists have threatened to kill the hostages if government forces launch an assault on their hideout, a tribal source close to the captors says. "The captors threatened to kill the Italian tourists if government forces take the initiative of bombarding or raiding their hideout," the source from the al-Zaidi tribe said on Monday.
| Unpleasant as it is, the government should assure the kidnappers that if they release the hostages their wives and children will be allowed to live. |
The Yemeni authorities are negotiating with tribesmen holding the Italians, after three women, one identified as Patrizia Rossi, were freed on Sunday but returned to the captors to try to secure the release of their two male compatriots.
| Say what you will about the Italian military, but individually they've got guts. |
The kidnapping of the five Italians, which followed the abduction of five Germans, prompted the sacking of governors in the two provinces where the Western tourists were seized.
| It's be an even better idea if it prompted the killing of large numbers of al-Zaidis. |
Yemeni officials earlier said the three women had been freed and the authorities were negotiating to gain the release of Enzo Botillo and another male tourist. But one official later said they had decided to return to the tribesmen upon learning, after being handed over to a mediator, that the men were still being held. They said they would only leave if all five were released. The Italians' kidnapping came hours after the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, pledged to eradicate abductions in the poor Arab country, and a day after five German hostages were freed unharmed by tribesmen who held them for three days.
| Make the kidnappers' families hostage. The actual kidnappers themselves should be considered dead from the moment the hostages are taken. |
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