Finnish, Austrian Hostages Freed in Yemen

A Finnish couple and an Austrian student abducted in Yemen by al-Qaida militants more than four months ago have been freed and handed over to Omani authorities, a Yemeni official said on Thursday.

The three, seized in Sanaa on December 21, were freed by local tribesmen on the border with Oman overnight Wednesday and are now with Omani authorities, the official said.

"They were kidnapped by al-Qaida militants... demanding a ransom and the release of members held in Yemeni jails," the official added.

A tribal source told Agence France Presse the kidnappers were demanding $50 million (38 million euros) to release the Europeans.

A security source added that energy-rich Qatar "offered, through an intermediary, to pay a ransom but the hostage-takers did not agree on the amount offered."

The three were a Finnish man who was studying Arabic in Yemen, a Finnish woman on visit to the Arabian Peninsula country and an Austrian student.

Swedish news agency TT, quoting the Finnish news agency, said the Finnish man is a military officer who was studying Arabic and working on a paper on political radicalization in the Middle East. It identified the woman as his wife, an executive in an oil company visiting her husband when the kidnapping took place.

The three were seized by masked gunmen in an electronics shop in the capital and moved to different locations around Yemen, the official said, winding up in Hawf, a village on the Omani border.

He said Hawf residents had arrested the kidnappers and set free the hostages who were handed over to Omani authorities.

There was no immediate confirmation from Oman about their whereabouts.

At the end of March, Finland's foreign minister held talks in Sanaa with Yemen's president about the fate of the hostages.

In February, the Austrian student appeared in a YouTube clip with a gun to his head, saying his captors would kill him unless Austria, Yemen and the European Union met their ransom demands.

In early January, Yemeni security officials said the Europeans were being held by al-Qaida-linked tribesmen in Marib province of eastern Yemen.

Al-Qaida militants, active southern and eastern Yemen, rarely carry out kidnappings, but Saudi diplomat Abdullah al-Khalidi has remained in the hands of the jihadist network since his abduction in Aden on March 28, 2012.

Most kidnappings of foreigners in Yemen are by members of powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips in disputes with the central government.

Hundreds of people have been abducted over the past 15 years. Almost all have been freed unharmed.