Seven foreign hostages 'murdered in Yemen'

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2009

SANAA (AFP) — Seven foreign hostages including a child have been found murdered in northern Yemen, security officials said on Monday, the first time in a decade that such a kidnapping has resulted in deaths.

"We have found the corpses of seven people who were kidnapped ... They were killed," an official said, adding that two of the three children captured with the group were reportedly found alive.

The bodies were found by the son of a tribal leader in Noshour, east of the volatile Saada mountainous area of northern Yemen where the nine were abducted, the official said.

A source close to an investigation into the killings said initial examinations showed the hostages were shot dead and their corpses had marks of knife stabs.

The authorities had accused Shiite...