http://www.tehrantimes.com/NCms/2007.asp?code=196840
: Tuesday, June 16, 2009
www.tehrantimes.com
Nine foreign hostages killed in Yemen
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - Nine missing foreigners in Yemen have been murdered, said a
Yemeni official Monday, apparently executed by their kidnappers in the
impoverished nation in the Arabian peninsula where al-Qaida has a strong
presence.
The nine foreigners, including seven German nationals, a Briton and a South
Korean, disappeared last week while on a picnic in the restive northern Saada
region of Yemen.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak to the press, announced the discovery of the remaining six bodies
Monday after three others had been found mutilated earlier in the day.
Yemen, the poorest nation in the Middle East, is home to restive tribes, a
Shiite rebellion, as well as a branch of al-Qaida which operates in its remote
regions and has often targeted foreigners as well as the U.S. embassy.
Shepherds roaming the area found the remains of three of the women in the
mountainous northern Saada province near the town of el-Nashour, known as a
hideout for al-Qaida militants, the official said.
In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the reports that the
Germans had been killed. A spokesman, speaking on customary condition of
anonymity, said that a ministry crisis team and the German embassy in San'a
were working together to try and get more details.
Yemeni authorities said the group included a German doctor, his wife and their
three children, as well as a Briton and his South Korean wife and two other
German nationals. They were all working in a hospital in Saada, the state news
agency said.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry identified their national by her family name,
Eom, and said she is a 34-year-old aid worker in Yemen. Chantel Mortimer, the
press officer at the British Embassy, expressed concern and said that the
embassy is seeking information about the rest of the hostages including the
British one.
""We are very concerned that bodies were found. We are seeking further
details,"" she said.
The killing of hostages is not common in Yemen, where tribesmen often kidnap
foreigners to press the government on a range of demands, including a ransom,
but usually release them unharmed. Kidnapping involving al-Qaida, however, have
been lethal for the hostages in the past.
A tribal leader in the area, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the
same reason as the security official, blamed al-Qaida for the Friday abduction
and the killing.
Yemen is the Arab world's poorest nation - and one of its most unstable -
making it fertile territory for al-Qaida to set up camp. The country is also in
a strategic location, next door to some of the world's most important oil
producing nations. It also lies just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia, an
even more tumultuous nation where the U.S. has said militants from the terror
network have been increasing their activity.
Al-Qaida militants, including fighters returning from Afghanistan and Iraq,
have established sanctuaries among a number of Yemeni tribes, particularly ones
in three provinces bordering Saudi Arabia.
In January, militants announced the creation of al-Qaida in the Arabian
Peninsula, a merger between the terror network's Yemeni and Saudi branches, led
by Naser Abdel-Karim al-Wahishi, a Yemeni who was once a close aide to Osama
bin Laden. Over the past year, al-Qaida has been blamed for a string of
attacks, including an armed assault in September on the U.S. Embassy in San'a,
as well as two suicide bombings targeting South Korean visitors in March.
Earlier, the Yemeni government had accused a Shiite rebel group in Saada, led
by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi, but the group issued a statement saying it has not
been involved in any abductions of foreigners
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