Yemen kidnappers free Finnish couple, Austrian

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni kidnappers have released a Finnish couple and an Austrian man missing since being taken hostage in the capital Sanaa in December 2012, a senior Yemeni security source said on Thursday.

The source told Reuters the trio had been freed on Wednesday night after mediation by authorities in neighboring Oman, who, he added, had paid a sum of money for their release.

"The Omani authorities led mediation efforts and paid a ransom to free the Austrian and Finnish hostages," a senior Yemeni security source told Reuters. "They were handed over to the Omani authorities last night," the source said. He declined to specify the amount of the ransom.

Kidnappings of Westerners occur sporadically in Yemen, mostly carried out by al Qaeda militants and tribesmen.

Lawlessness in the Arabian Peninsula state has alarmed its neighbor and top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States, which increasingly views Yemen as a front line in its struggle against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Writing by William Maclean, editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Yemen: US drone strike kills 4 al-Qaida suspects

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni security official and witnesses say a U.S. drone strike killed at least four suspected al-Qaida militants in mountainous area south of the capital, Sanaa.

The four were killed while riding a vehicle in the desert area of Oussab al-Ali, about 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Sanaa, the official said.

The region has become a hideout for al-Qaida militants since the Yemeni government intensified its offensive against their former strongholds in the south over the past several months.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

A witness in a nearby village said he saw columns of smoke rising into the sky after two explosions rocked the area on Wednesday.

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Yemen: US drone strikes kill 4 al-Qaida suspects

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Two U.S. drone strikes Wednesday killed at least four suspected al-Qaida militants and destroyed the house of another in a mountainous area south of the capital, Sanaa, a Yemeni security official and witnesses said.

The four were killed in the first strike while riding a vehicle in the desert area of Oussab al-Ali, about 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Sanaa, the official said.

The second strike targeted the house of a suspected jihadi, Hamed Radman, believed to be al-Qaida member, the official said. He said it was not known whether Radman was inside the house at the time.

A witness in a nearby village said he saw columns of smoke rising into the sky after two explosions rocked the area. He said that U.S. drones have been flying over his village for three days and are still in the sky.

The region, shaped like a triangle and located in the middle of three provinces of central Damar, southern Ibb and eastern Hodeida, has become a hideout for al-Qaida militants since the Yemeni government intensified its offensive against their former strongholds in the south over the past several months.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

In Sanaa, Yemeni authorities have raided houses of suspected al-Qaida members in the past 48 hours, arresting more than 15, including a man whose brother was killed in one of the drone strikes in southern city of Abyan the past months, official said.

The arrests are part of tightening security measures in Sanaa in the vicinity of the foreign embassies, companies and hotels.

Yemen's al-Qaida branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is considered the group's most dangerous.

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Al-Qaida denies its No. 2 in Yemen was killed

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida in Yemen posted a statement on militant websites Monday saying that its second-most senior commander has not been killed. It was the second time the group has denied Saeed al-Shihri's death.

The Saudi national, who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, is "alive and in good health," according to a senior al-Qaida cleric in Yemen and the group's media arm, al-Malahem. The cleric, Abu-Saad Al-Aamly, posted the claim on his Facebook account.

It came as nine people were killed in separate incidents of violence throughout Yemen. Also, its capital city was without electricity on Monday after militants attacked electricity cables connecting Sanaa to the province of Marib, where an oil pipeline was also blown up.

The impoverished nation at the tip off the Arabian Peninsula is awash with problems, including a rocky transition of power after the country's longtime leader was forced to resign during Arab Spring protests in 2011. The instability has emboldened tribes loyal to the former regime, and al-Qaida took advantage of the turmoil to temporarily overrun entire cities and towns in the south.

Washington considers the local al-Qaida branch, known as al-Qaida in The Arabian Peninsula, as the most dangerous and active of the group's offshoots.

A Yemeni police official told The Associated Press that security forces may have been too quick announcing al-Shihri's death in January, based on information from Saudi Arabia. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to release the information to reporters.

Yemeni security officials had claimed the al-Qaida commander was killed by a U.S. drone strike. The country's state news agency, SABA, reported in January that al-Shirhi was in a coma after a missile attack in late November, but did not make clear if he had died.

Yemen had previously announced al-Shihri's death in September last year. A DNA test, however, proved that the body recovered was not that of al-Shihri. A month later, al-Shihri denied his own death in an audio message posted on Jihadi websites.

In the northeastern province of Marib, armed tribesmen were suspected of being behind an attack on oil pipelines and electricity pylons that led to a power outage in the capital, Sanaa.

Sabotage attacks on oil pipelines are common in Marib, which is flush with weapons and where the government has little control. The more than 430-kilometer (260-mile) oil pipeline carries around 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Similar acts of sabotage in December caused $310 million in losses.

Some of Marib's tribesmen maintain cordial ties with al-Qaida, while other tribal chiefs there are suspected of being allied with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The attacks appear to be aimed at undermining the new government, which has responded with deadly air strikes.

Four people, two soldiers and two tribesmen, were killed Monday in Marib when a group of tribesmen attacked a military checkpoint in the area of Sarwah, according to security officials.

Officials also said that troops loyal to the former president killed three protesters in the city of Radda, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital. Two soldiers from the Republican Guard, still led by Saleh's son Ahmed, were also killed in clashes with protesters and police.

The Republic Guard is an elite army unit that was once the backbone of Saleh's 33-year rule. The security force was supposed to be reorganized and brought under the control of the Defense Ministry according to orders by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, but those changes have yet to materialize on the ground.

Officials said that the troops in Radda forced residents to close their stores and blocked roads leading to the city on Sunday, prompting the protests on Monday. It was not immediately clear why the troops forced businesses to close, but security officials said they suspect it was linked to efforts by Saleh's loyalists to disrupt a national dialogue aimed at mapping out the country's future.

All officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.

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