In another indication of instability in the Arabian Peninsula country, an Italian embassy security officer was kidnapped on Sunday. The Yemeni government said the hunt for the abductors had begun.The Italian security officer was kidnapped near his country's embassy in Sanaa. A spokesman for the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome said the man was a member of the country's Carabinieri military police.
In a phone call with his Italian counterpart, Giulio Terzi, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Qirbi said the hunt for the abductors had begun, state news agency Saba said late on Sunday. It said nothing about identity of the kidnappers.
The abduction followed the kidnapping in March of the Saudi deputy consul in Yemen's port city of Aden, Abdallah Al-Khalidi, by Al-Qaeda-linked militants. The kidnappers have demanded the release of women detainees held in Saudi prisons.