Sanaa: A French official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was kidnapped by unidentified armed men as he was travelling from north Yemen to the Red Sea port city of Hudaida, media reported on Sunday.
According to reports an ICRC spokesperson Dibeh Fakhr in Sanaa, said that the Frenchman, who works in the northern city of Saada, was kidnapped late on Saturday some 30 km (18 miles) from Hudaida.
“He was with two Yemeni drivers who the kidnappers released shortly afterwards,” Fakhr said adding that until now they have no contact with the kidnappers or their employee.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the kidnapping but seizing foreigners or Yemenis in order to secure releases of jailed relatives is common in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state. Most hostages are freed unharmed.
Yemen slipped into chaos after the outbreak of protests more than a year ago that eventually ousted autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh under a deal brokered by Yemen’s rich Gulf neighbors, including regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
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