Yemen says rebels kidnap man, briefly hold Saudis

Shi`ite Muslim rebels have kidnapped a Yemeni man in the country`s north and also briefly held a group of Saudi citizens, the government said, incidents that threaten a fragile truce with Sanaa.

Sanaa: Shi`ite Muslim rebels have kidnapped a Yemeni man in the country`s north and also briefly held a group of Saudi citizens, the government said, incidents that threaten a fragile truce with Sanaa.

The northern rebels seized the man in the Harf Sufyan district and took him to an unknown location, Yemeni security services said in a statement.

A number of the rebels, who complain of discrimination by Sanaa, held a group of Saudis captive for a few hours but then freed them, said the statement which was issued on Friday.

Yemen`s government agreed a truce with the rebels led by Abdel Malek al-Houthi in February to halt the continual outbreaks of war since 2004 that have displaced 250,000 people.

The ceasefire has largely held but unrest has risen in recent weeks, raising fears of greater instability in a country neighboring the world`s biggest oil exporters and situated on a strategic shipping channel.

Saudi Arabia was drawn into the war last November after insurgents seized Saudi border areas. Fighting between Saudis and the rebels has since ended.

In Yemen`s south, a separate group of secessionists shot dead a soldier in the province of Lahej, the defense ministry said. Security forces had earlier arrested Bassam al-Sayyid, the ministry reported in its online newspaper "September 26," describing the man as the leader of a local criminal gang.

Southern media reported that the shooting was in revenge for Sayyid`s arrest on Thursday, but did not say whether any of those involved were secessionists.

On Saturday, a court in the southern province of Hadramout sentenced four southern activists to 10 years in prison.

Opposition media named the men as local leaders of various secessionist groups in the province.

The men were accused of committing "crimes against state security, including an attack on the constitution, inciting people against the authorities...and the dissemination of news aimed at disrupting the peace," official news agency Saba said.

North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen`s oil facilities are, complain northerners have used unification to seize resources and discriminate against them.

Bureau Report

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