Europe News

No progress in search for Yemen kidnap victims

Jun 16, 2009, 5:28 GMT

   Sana'a, Yemen/Berlin - Authorities made no progress in the search for a group of nine foreigners kidnapped in Yemen after three female aid workers were confirmed killed, German officials said.

   'The crisis team continues to work urgently for a solution,' a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

   Two German aid nurses and one South Korean teacher were kidnapped on Friday together with five members of a German family and a 45-year-old British engineer in north-western Yemen on Friday. The three women were shot and stabbed, a provincial official in Sana'a, who asked anonymity said Monday.

   The women were aged between 22 and 27, according the German Interior Ministry.

   Provincial officials said two German girls out of the group were found alive in the district of Akwan of the Wadi Nushur area east of Saada.

   News reports that seven of the kidnap victims had been killed, could not be confirmed by the Yemeni authorities.

   So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction and the murders.

   The slain women were working in Saada for the Dutch World Wide Services Foundation, a charity foundation that places medical personnel in hospitals in developing countries for periods of up to two years.

   They were working at the state-run al-Jumhori hospital in Saada, while the others were visiting.