Two US tourists, a husband and wife, along with their driver were kidnapped by gunmen in Yemen today, dpa cited security and tribal sources as saying. They were seized by armed members of the al-Shirda tribe as they drove on a highway linking the capital Sana'a with the Red Sea port city of Houdieda, security sources said. "They were on a tour when armed tribesmen intercepted their car and took them," a police source told the German Press Agency dpa. Tribal sources said the abductors are holding the pair now in Bani Mansour area of al-Haymah district, 45 kilometres to the west of Sana'a. They said the kidnappers are demanding the release of a fellow tribesman detained by police in Sana'a over a land dispute. Police erected check points on roads leading to al-Haymah and sent armoured personnel carriers to the area to press on the kidnappers to release the two hostages, witnesses said. An anonymous source claiming to be in touch with the gunmen said the hostages were being well-treated, the Yemen Observer weekly reported. The US embassy in Yemen declined to comment or confirm the nationalities of the hostages, saying it would issue a statement at a later time.
