 Five Italians kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen were released and their captors arrested, ending the latest hostage crisis in the impoverished country. "We are happy the nightmare is over," Andrea Polato, 24, son of one of the hostages, Camilla Ramigni, told Italy's Ansa news agency.
| "Those people are crazy!" |
The three women and two men arrived at Sanaa airport in a military helicopter which had carried them from the lawless region of Marib 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital where they were snatched on Sunday. The official SABA news agency said the five were freed "in a military operation" while a tribal dignitary involved in negotiations said both mediation and military action had secured their release. "A massacre would have taken place had it not been for talks and mediations," Sheikh Jouail Touaiman, who met the kidnappers last on Thursday, told AFP Friday. Italy had demanded that the Yemeni government not use force to free them after the hostage-takers warned they would execute their captives if an assault took place. Freed hostage Patrizia Rossi said the troops got close to the hideout where they were kept but she spoke of brief negotiations between captors and the troops.
"Ummm... Nice guns you guys got... How many of you are there, by the way?"
"780."
"We'll... uhhh... surrender if you don't kill us."
"Not right away."
"Ummm... Okay." |
"We heard helicopters hovering over the place. Shortly after, a captor walked out and started negotiating with the security forces in a loud and tense voice," she told AFP. "He returned minutes later and asked the other captor to leave us... They both walked out in the direction of the troops who later moved in," she said. Although Rossi mentioned the arrest of only two captors, a security source told AFP that six kidnappers were arrested and have been taken to Sanaa.
| "Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!" |
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