Yemeni forces free eight al Qaeda hostages; U.S. says no Americans

[jakeXT]

(Reuters) - Yemeni security forces freed eight hostages including six Yemenis, a Saudi and an Ethiopian, in a raid in which seven al Qaeda kidnappers were also killed, the country's supreme security committee said.

The committee said in a statement a member of the Yemeni security forces was lightly wounded in the operation in Hajr as-Say'ar district in the eastern province of Hadramout.

An earlier statement by the committee had said seven of the hostages were Yemenis and one was a foreigner. A Yemeni government source said at the time the foreigner was a U.S. military instructor, but a U.S. defence official denied that report.

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The Pentagon said in 2012 the United States had resumed on-the-ground military training aimed at bolstering Yemen's fight against al Qaeda following a suspension of such help during a period of intense political upheaval.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/25/us-yemen-kidnapping-idUSKCN0J909R20141125

[jakeXT]

1. American among hostages targeted in Yemen raid

SANAA, Yemen — U.S operation forces took part in a rescue mission that freed eight hostages in a remote corner of Yemen, but a Yemeni official said Wednesday that it did not liberate five others, including an American journalist and a Briton who were moved elsewhere by their al-Qaida captors days before the raid.

Eight hostages — including a Saudi— were liberated in the joint U.S.-Yemeni operation, a rare instance of American forces intervening on the ground in Yemen. A member of the Yemeni anti-terrorism forces was quoted on a website connected to Yemen's Defense Ministry, saying that the mission searched for a group of hostages from several nations in an eastern province, but when the commandos arrived at the cave where al-Qaida militants had chained and covered the hostages in blankets, the American and four others were already gone.

A senior U.S. official had earlier confirmed U.S. involvement and said no American was rescued, without elaborating whether the operation had intended to free one.

The mission was carried out in a vast desert area dotted with dunes called Hagr al-Saiaar, an al-Qaida safe haven where local tribes offer them protection near the Saudi border.

http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/american-among-hostages-targeted-in-yemen-raid-1.316185