After several days of mediation, kidnappers have released two Chinese engineers working in Yemen, a provincial governor said Tuesday. Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi, the governor of Shabwa province where the kidnapping took place, told AP by telephone that mediators had reached an agreement with the kidnappers and the engineers were on their way back to the provincial capital of Attaq. A high ranking source at Yemen's Ministry of Interior told Okaz prior to the release that a “large military campaign” had been launched in the Huda area of Shabwa to release two Chinese hostages kidnapped by tribesmen on Sunday. “Security services have surrounded the region of Huda where two Chinese engineers from the company Balhaf are being held along with the two soldiers guarding them by a tribal group from the Aal Hayda Laqmoush,” the source said. The security official said that various forces were involved in the operation, including Anti-Terrorism Forces from the interior ministry, to prevent anyone entering or departing from the Huda region. The ministry said that prominent individuals in the region were “exerting great efforts” to free the kidnapped while security forces secured on the area to facilitate tribal mediators.
