Yemen police free German hostage

Yemeni tribes have seized 200 foreigners in the last 10 years

By Heba Saleh in Cairo

Yemeni officials say they have managed to free a German businessman who had been held hostage by tribal kidnappers in the remote Sirwah region.

The businessman, who works for the car maker Mercedes, had been snatched from in front of his home in the capital Sanaa nine days ago.

Yemeni officials say the security forces captured one of the abductors without firing a single shot.

Most of Yemen's kidnappings are resolved peacefully through mediation,

On Thursday, the Yemeni authorities had given the tribal kidnappers an ultimatum - release the captive within 48 hours, or face further military action.

The ultimatum followed a failed assault last week by the security forces on the village where the German businessman was believed to be held.

Three tribesman and two policemen were killed when army and police units armed with tanks and rockets bombed the kidnappers, who responded with rockets.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Yemen in the past 10 years, mostly by tribesmen who wanted to use their captives as bargaining chips with the government.

Most of these kidnappings were resolved peacefully through mediation, although in 1998 three British hostages, and an Australian were killed when the army stormed the hide-out of their militant Islamic captors.