Three Killed in Yemen Hostage Release Bid

Three people were killed as Yemen's army launched an offensive against Al-Qaida-linked militants suspected of holding three European hostages abducted last month, tribal sources said on Monday.

"Three people died" and several others were wounded in the operation since late Sunday in the Al-Qaida stronghold town of Manaseh in the central province of Bayda, tribal sources and medics said.

They said the victims were apparently caught in crossfire.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber targeted a checkpoint manned by a battalion of the elite Republican Guards in a nearby area, tribal sources said, reporting an unspecified number of casualties.

Elsewhere in the same province, an Al-Qaida ambush killed a soldier and wounded two others, according to one tribal source.

The army launched the offensive after three militants, who are accused of holding one Austrian and two Finns hostage in Manaseh, refused to surrender despite mediation efforts.

The three men -- brothers of Tarek al-Dahab, an Al-Qaida leader killed in a February 2012 attack -- deny they are holding the hostages.

"The three European hostages are not in Manaseh. They might still be in Marib," Al-Qaida's eastern stronghold, a tribal source in contact with the militants told AFP.

Earlier this month, Yemeni security officials said the Europeans were being held by Al-Qaida-linked tribesmen in Marib.

A senior security official told AFP the army will continue its offensive until the three suspects surrender. "The Dahab men must surrender. They will be responsible for the consequences of the ongoing operation."

The Austrian man and Finnish man and woman were abducted in Sanaa on December 21 as they prepared to travel to the southern port of Aden via Yemen's second city Taez.

The two men were learning Arabic in Sanaa, and the woman was visiting.

Most kidnappings of foreigners are carried out by members of the country's powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips in disputes with the central government.

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

Al-Qaida has a major presence in the south and east of Yemen but rarely carries out kidnappings. A Saudi diplomat, Abdallah al-Khalidi, remains in the hands of the jihadist network since his abduction in Aden on March 28.