Middle East News
Search for kidnapped Germans in Yemen goes on, says president
Jul 11, 2009, 14:49 GMT
Sana'a, Yemen - The search for a German family of five and a British engineer who were kidnapped in north-western Yemen one month ago was in progress, but their fate was still unknown, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday.
The six people were taken at gunpoint, along with two German theology students and a South Korean teacher, while on a weekend excursion in the restive province of Saada on June 12.
The bodies of the two German students and the South Korean teacher were later found three days after the kidnapping
'Yemeni security bodies continue their intensive efforts in coordination with the German side to determine the fate of the hostages,' the official Saba news agency quoted Saleh as saying.
It said Saleh made the remarks during a telephone conversation with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Saleh told Steinmeier that police forces would hunt down the perpetrators 'to seize them and bring them to justice to receive their deterrent punishment,' the agency said.
Authorities have said that hundreds of army and police troops were deployed to comb the vast mountainous and desert areas of Saada and three neighbouring provinces with the help of German and British criminal police teams.
No tribal or political group has yet claimed responsibility for the abduction or made demands.
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