Saudi officer released by al-Qaeda after tribal mediation and ransom payment

Saudi officer released by al-Qaeda after tribal mediation and ransom payment

A tribal mediation has succeeded in releasing a Saudi officer, who was kidnapped on Monday by Al-Qaeda operatives in the areas under the control of Saudi-led coalition in Ma’rib province, southeast Yemen. This was reported by Yemen Press Agency, based on a tribal source.

According to the tribal source, Saudi Arabia paid 500,000 Saudi riyals in exchange for the liberation of the officer.

The source indicated that the mediation, led by Sheikh Alian Hussein bin Gharib, succeeded in releasing the Saudi officer and handing over the money to the kidnappers.

Al-Qaeda militants, in coordination with officers in the coalition operations room, succeeded in luring the Saudi officer into the Al Jalal forts area, with the aim of having hin agree to carry out joint operations against Yemeni forces when they approached the vicinity of the city of Ma’rib.

However, Tuesday, the Yemeni Press Agency obtained exclusive information stated that the reason behind the Saudi officer’s abduction was to find out the sources that provided coordinates for targeting leaders of Al-Qaeda by a drone strike, which killed two of them on December 15 while they were riding a motorbike in Al-Bathaa area, east of Ma’rib.