The Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al-Khalidi and the Swiss Teacher Sylvia Abrahat kidnapped by Al-Qaeda are existed in Shabwah, local sources affirmed. The sources said they were transferred from Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an
Islamic Emirateafter seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
to the Kood mountains of Shabwah after Ansar Al-Shariah gunnies were dislodged of Abyan by the Yemeni army last month.
They spelt out that a mediation led by tribal leaders are ongoing, pointing out that the abductors still insist to have $10 million as ransoms and that challenges the mediation efforts.
Well-informed sources expected that al-Khalide will be released on Sunday, but they gave no further information about his release. News reports said last week that a tribal mediation reached an agreement to unleash al-Khalidi.
For his part, the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Ali Al-Hamdat told Okaz Newspaper that there were no contacts to free Al-Khaldi by captors.
A tribal source had revealed that a prominent tribal leader Saleh Al-Awlaki and other tribal leaders have conducted negotiations with al-Qaeda for weeks to release the Saudi diplomat, pointing out that the mediation faced many difficulties and obstructions.The source added that Ansar Al-Shariah accepted a ransom of $10 million that will be paid for the group by Yemen.The Saudi authorities released last week al-Qaeda-linked female prisoners of Al-Qaeda, and reopened its embassy in Sana'a after four months of closure.
Al-Khalidi was kidnapped in the port city of Aden on March 28 and two video messages of al-Khalidi were posted by Al-Qaeda in which he appealed to the Saudi authorities to meet the demands of captors through releasing al-Qaeada prisoners and pay a ransom.