Al Qaeda did not hold Japanese Engineer, official source

By Ashwaq Arrabyee

Official sources denied kidnapping the Japanese Engineer by Al Qaeda members in Yemen.

No'man Dowaid, Sana'a governor, said that Al Qaeda did not kidnap the Japanese Engineer, Takeo Mashimo and take him to Al-Jawf Province.

"The local authority knows the place of the Japanese hostage and the efforts are exerted to release him safely," he added

Earlier, tribal sources said AlQaeda members have seized the Japanese Engineer from his tribal kidnappers in Arhab and moved him to Al Jawf province, east of the capital Sana'a.

"Leaking such information about kidnapping the Japanese engineer by Al Qaeda is just a kind of blackmailing that the kidnapers are trying to impose on the government in order to respond to their demands," Dowaid said.

The 63-year-old Japanese Engineer, Takeo Mashimo, was kidnapped on Sunday in Arhab, northeast of Sana'a, by tribesmen seeking to exchange him for one of their relatives being held by police and sentenced to four years in prison.

The mediators are still negotiating with the kidnappers to release the Japanese hostage.