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Saudi forces free two German girls kidnapped in Yemen
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Saudi forces free two German girls kidnapped in Yemen
AFP - Wednesday, May 19
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Two young German girls held hostage for nearly a year in rugged north Yemen have been rescued by Saudi security forces, but an infant brother was feared dead and the fate of their parents was unknown, officials said on Tuesday.
RIYADH (AFP) - – Two young German girls held hostage for nearly a year in rugged north Yemen have been rescued by Saudi security forces, but an infant brother was feared dead and the fate of their parents was unknown, officials said on Tuesday.
Germany welcomed news of the rescue, which involved close cooperation between Saudi and Yemeni intelligence along the often-troubled border.
The girls, aged three and five, were in a Saudi hospital.
"Their condition is okay. But they are in the hospital to make sure they get any medical care they might need," Saudi interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki told AFP.
The ministry said the girls were rescued on Monday.
"Security forces in communication with Yemen counterparts were able to recover two German girls in the border region between the two countries on Monday," a statement said.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the girls would return to Germany on Wednesday.
"We are relieved that the Saudi security forces have succeeded in freeing two of our five compatriots kidnapped in Yemen," he said in a statement.
"The two little girls are currently under the protection of the Saudi authorities. They are doing well given the difficult circumstances. They should be returning to Germany tomorrow."
The girls were part of a group of seven Germans, a British man and a South Korean woman seized in Yemen's northern mountains in June 2009.
The group was associated with a Protestant-run hospital in Saada in northwest Yemen, the scene of a longstanding conflict between government forces and Zaidi Shiite rebels.
The bodies of two German women, said to be nurses and Bible students, and the South Korean, were found soon after the abduction, raising fears for the safety of the remaining hostages.
Turki said he had no information on the four remaining hostages, but indicated that the operation by interior ministry special forces and intelligence is ongoing.
"We don't have any idea about the others," he said. "I believe the operation still has some objectives to achieve."
Relatives were informed on Monday that the girls had been freed, said Reinhard Poetschke, a family spokesman in Germany.
However, he added, "We have to assume that the boy is no longer alive."
Germany's Bild newspaper quoted security sources as saying the body of the boy had been recovered in Yemen, but Turki said the Saudis had "no knowledge" of this.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said in London they "remain concerned for the safety of the kidnapped British national."
"We are urgently investigating these reports and remain in close touch with the Yemeni authorities."
The rescue announcement came after unconfirmed reports from Yemen on Tuesday that Saudi forces had crossed the border into a Yemeni village and that Saudi military helicopters were flying over the area.
Turki could not provide any details of the operation.
"We came across some information that the two little girls were seen in an area close to Saudi Arabia," he said.
He did not explain how the girls, who were not with their parents, were brought across the border into Saudi Arabia.
"This was an intelligence operation. Our operation did not actually have any security forces inside Yemen," he told AFP.
In January, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi said the government had determined that the five Germans and the Briton were being held in Saada, and that the government was conducting negotiations for their release.
Yemen had accused Shiite rebels in the area of being behind the kidnapping -- a charge they repeatedly denied.
Yemen's powerful tribes have frequently carried out abductions of foreigners as bargaining chips in disputes with the government.
Of the 200 or so foreigners seized over the past decade, most have been released unharmed.
In eastern Yemen, two Chinese oil-workers who were abducted by local tribesmen were released on Tuesday after two days in captivity, a local official and tribesmen told AFP. Two Yemeni drivers and two soldiers seized with them were also released.
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