At Least 3 Kidnapped Foreigners Found Dead in Yemen
By VOA News
15 June 2009
A Yemeni security official says at least three of the nine foreigners kidnapped in a northern mountainous region have been killed.
The official said Monday that locals found the bodies of three women near the town of Nashour.
Government officials on Sunday accused a Shi'ite militant group of taking the group of seven Germans, a British engineer and a South Korean teacher hostage in the Saada region.
The Germans are said to include three children, two nurses and an engineer and his wife.
Yemen officials have accused Houthi militants of involvement in the kidnapping, but the rebel group denied the accusation, saying Yemeni authorities are trying to tarnish its image.
Rebels loyal to a Zaidi Shi'ite cleric, Hussein al-Houthi, have been fighting government loyalists in Saada province since 2004.
Tribesmen in Yemen often take foreigners hostage to pressure the government on a range of demands, but those foreigners are generally released unharmed.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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