Two US tourists, a husband and wife, have been kidnapped by armed Yemeni tribesmen, who are demanding the release of a jailed relative according to Yemeni security officials said.
The couple's Yemeni driver and a translator were also taken hostage, the officials said. The incident took place near the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
The kidnappers were seeking government intervention to free a family member in jail over a land dispute that was before the courts, a tribal source said.
"Armed tribesmen ambushed a car carrying tourists and their Yemeni driver and took them to their area," one security official said. Another official said the kidnapping was not thought to have any broader political motive.
A US diplomat in Sana’a confirmed that two Americans had been kidnapped but had no further details.
A Yemeni government official said authorities had made contact with the kidnappers and a team of negotiators was headed to the mountainous area where the Americans were being held.
Authorities have detained dozens of members of the tribe, a security official said. "The purpose is to mount pressure on the kidnappers, while negotiations go on," he said.
Most hostages taken in Yemen have been freed unharmed, but in 2000 a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire and in 1998 four Westerners were killed during an army attempt to free them.
Reuters