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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