Kidnappers Slay Nine Foreigners in Yemen

All nine kidnapped foreigners confirmed dead

Nine foreign hostages grabbed during a picnic on Friday in Yemen have been executed by their captors, authorities said.

The group of seven Germans, including a couple and their three children, a Briton and a South Korean were found dead Monday after being captured in the west province of Saada, according to The Associated Press.

The violent outcome came as a surprise to security experts.

"It's very rare for kidnappers in Yemen to kill, we have to wait to know what happened," a Dubai-based security analyst Fares bin Houzam told Reuters. "But whoever is behind this, this is a fatal blow to security in Yemen."

Locally, fingers are being pointed at Al Qaeda and rebel group, Huthi Zaidi, though no one from either group has claimed responsibility, and no evidence has developed to confirm their involvement.

Kidnapping is not unusual in the Arab world's most impoverished nation, where tribesmen use captives for ransom payments and most cases are resolved peacefully.

In the past 15 years, over 200 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in Yemen, most leaving unharmed, according to BBC News.

In the case of these nine, however, no ransom demands were made public.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin is not yet confirming the deaths. A spokesman told the AP that the Foreign Ministry is working with Yemeni authorities to gather more details.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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