Yemen: 9 Foreigners Kidnapped by Shiite Rebels

Yemen accused a Shiite rebel group Sunday of kidnapping nine foreigners in the country's rugged north.The Interior Ministry said the foreigners were kidnapped Friday by a rebel group led by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi while on a picnic in northern Sada province.The nine foreigners reportedly were mostly women and children, including a Briton, seven Germans and a female South Korean teacher.The state news agency Saba said the foreigners worked in a hospital in Sada.Tribesmen in Yemen frequently take foreigners hostage to pressure the government on a range of demands and generally release them unharmed.Tribesmen on Friday freed 24 local and foreign medics working at a Saudi-funded hospital in Sada less than 24 hours after their kidnapping, which was not carried out by the al-Hawthi group.Thousands of people have been killed in Saada since a Shiite rebellion erupted there in June 2004. The rebels say the government is corrupt and too closely allied with the West. The government has charged al-Hawthi with sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American sentiment.The group negotiated a fragile cease-fire with the government last year, but serious tension remains.Meanwhile, a Yemen security source said Sunday that a man described as the lead financer of Al Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia had been arrested.Reuters reported the source said Hassan Hussein Alwan, a Saudi national, was seized two days ago in Marib province in the east of Yemen.