Tribal mediation starts to free Japanese tourists kidnapped in Mareb

Exclusive-Tribal mediation started contacts and negotiations with kidnappers to release the two Japanese hostages, kidnapped by some tribesmen in the governorate Mareb, 300 km northern east Sana'a., said Sheikh bin M'aeli of Mareb.
The two Japanese female tourists were kidnapped by militant tribesmen in Mareb province Wednesday morning.

The two hostages' names are Kiko Nitmo and Kiko Nishmo, reported  Mareb Press website.

The two women and their driver were taken hostages as they traveling by road to the site of the ancient Mareb Dam.

The two Japanese were part of a larger group of tourists but were a little bit away from the others, which enabled the assailants to pick them as targets.
The kidnappers who believed to be members of the Muaili tribe  demanded to release one of the tribe's member,  Malek bin Hassan bin Muaili detained by the Yemeni authorities for being suspected to be behind the 16 April bombing, 2008 that killed three policemen and injured 6 others in Mareb city.

A tribal source from Marib told Yemen Observer on phone that the hostages are held in Salwa village belongs to Al Saleh Musaili in Wadi Abidah to the east of Mareb.

The source added that a tribal mediation delegate headed by Sheikh Ali Bin Saeed Muaili has started negotiations with the kidnappers to release the hostages.

He added that the first demand by the kidnappers to accept negotiations was that no military or security vehicle breaks into the territories of Wadi Abidah.
AFP attributed to an official that a policeman was wounded when security forces at a checkpoint on the road clashed with the gunmen in an attempt to free the hostages.

High ranking security source from Mareb told Yemen Observer that they have located the hideout of the hostages in Wadi Abidah and that the security forces have been besieging the area.

"The kidnappers are five tribesmen, three of them belong to bin Mualili tribe and two others from Abidah" said the security source.
He further mentioned that the kidnappers left the driver in the road to their hideout.

The secretary general of Mareb's local council Jaber al-Shabwani confirmed the incident but refused to comment. "We are meeting to discuss the incident right now so I can't give you any information yet," said al-Shabwani.

 

 

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