Two kidnapped Japanese tourists set free

  
Following security pressure and tribal negotiations, the two female Japanese tourists who were kidnapped Wednesday morning in the Marib province have been set free, according to the head of the tribal mediation delegation, Sheikh bin Muaili.  The two women were handed over to the security authorities in Marib late Wednesday night and were escorted to Sana’a Thursday morning.

 The Ministry of Tourism issued a statement confirming their release just a few hours after being kidnapped. The statement also read that the women were in good health.  Minister of Tourism Nabil al-Faqih said the two hostages, Keiko Mishima and Shizuko Endo, were released hours after being kidnapped thanks to the efforts of the security authorities and the citizens of the Marib province.  The two women and their driver were taken hostage as they were traveling along the road to the ancient Marib Dam.

They were part of a larger group of tourists, but were behind the others, enabling the assailants to target them.  The two  freed hostages who were released within hours of being kidnapped in Yemen, apologized Thursday for worrying people back home and said they felt no threat to their lives. 

“I am sorry for worrying many people in Japan,” Keiko Mishima , 41, told reporters in Yemen, according to footage aired by national network Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).  Keiko added that “the kidnappers were very kind with us and did not threaten us. They tried to convert us and offered us food and tea. We heard no gunshots.

They were doing everything they could to convert us. What we want to do now, as we were supposed to stay for three more days, is leave Yemen now because of the pain we caused to our families.”  “I’m just relieved,” added Shizuko Endo, 44.  Mishimia said they had not felt their lives were in danger.  “In the car, they kept telling us not to worry and that there’s no problem. After we were taken out of the vehicle, they gestured that we will not be harmed and things were okay,” she said. “ I didn’t feel that our lives were threatened.” 

 The Japanese government thanked Yemen for its quick action in securing the release of the women.  “We are truly grateful to the Yemeni government which helped in an early resolution,” Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.  Onodera noted that Japan had earlier recommended that its tourists not to go to Yemen.  The kidnappers demanded the release of a tribe member, Malek bin Hassan bin Muaili, who was detained by the Yemeni authorities as a suspect of the April 16 bombing in Marib that killed three policemen and injured six others.

 The kidnappers were five tribesmen, three of them belonging to bin Mualili tribe and two others from Abidah, said the security source.  A tribal source from Marib told Yemen Observer over phone that the hostages were held in Salwa village belonging to al-Saleh Musaili in Wadi Abidah to the east of Marib.  The source added that a tribal mediation delegate headed by Sheikh Ali Bin Saeed Muaili began the negotiations with the kidnappers to release the hostages.  The first demand of the kidnappers was that no military or security vehicle to break into the territories of Wadi Abidah. 

 AFP attributed to an official that a policeman was wounded when security forces at a road checkpoint clashed with the gunmen in an attempt to free the hostages. High ranking security sources from Marib told Yemen Observer that they located the hideout of the hostages in Wadi Abidah and the security forces besieged the area to locate the women. 

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