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| Arabia |
| Yemen: Police surround German hostages' prison |
| 2008-12-17 |
| (AKI) - Yemeni officials said on Tuesday police have located and surrounded the hideout where Yemeni tribesmen are holding three Germans hostage, Germany's DPA news agency reported. Yemeni police earlier arrested several tribesmen suspected of having abducted the Germans on Monday, Yemen's official news agency Saba cited the Yemeni capital, Sanaa's police chief Muhammad Turaiq as saying. An unnamed source at the German embassy in Sanaa said the Yemeni government had assured the embassy no force would be used to free the three Germans, DPA said. The hostages are a female employee of the German Technical Cooperation agency GTZ and her parents, according to embassy officials quoted by DPA. All three hostages are in good health, Sanaa cited the Khowaln district police director, Saleh Dahmash, as saying on Tuesday. Armed tribesmen snatched the family from their car outside the historic city of Radaa, located in a remote area about 130 kilometres south of Sanaa, DPA reported. Five tribesmen led by Abdu-Rabu Saleh al-Tam were holding the hostages in a house in the mountain village of Nabaah, 60 kilometres east of Sanaa, an unnamed interior ministry official told DPA. The kidnappers have demanded the release of al-Tam's son and brother. Both men have been jailed at the central prison in Sanaa for abducting five Yemeni engineers and holding them captive for six months last year, the official said. Al-Tam has also demanded the Yemeni authorities pay him 200,000 dollars in compensation for a property in Sanaa, the ownership of which he disputed with an influential local businessman, according to the official. The kidnappers belong to the powerful Banu Dhabian tribe, which is better known for kidnapping foreigners to press the government to improve living conditions, schools and services in impoverished Yemen. |
| Posted by:Fred |