At least five people were killed today in Yemen in an exchange of fire between security forces and the tribal kidnappers of a German hostage.
Army and police units armed with tanks and rockets bombed the hideout of the kidnappers, who fired back with rockets.
A police official, asking not to be identified, said the assault was launched at the end of a 48-hour truce, which had been declared to give the kidnappers a last chance to free the German, who was kidnapped on November 28th.
The German, a businessman in his 50s who has not been identified, was snatched from outside his house in a diplomatic quarter of the Yemeni capital.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Yemen since 1991 and almost all abductions have been resolved peacefully through mediation.
However, three Britons and an Australian died in December 1998 when security forces stormed the hideout of a hardline Islamist group. Their leader, Abu Bakr al-Mehdar, was executed.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni cabinet issued a statement following its weekly meeting in which it said the authorities "will strike with an iron hand and will respond firmly to saboteurs and the authors of kidnappings, who only tarnish the image of Yemen."
AFP