"Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) Ansar al-Sharia ( Parisian of Islamic Law) in Abyan's city of Jaar released on Saturday 73 Yemeni soldiers following a tribal mediation led by chieftain Awad Banajar, relatives of the captured soldiers and nongovernment human rights groups," the group said in the statement.
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Team Negotiating Release Of Soldiers In Yemen
from yemenpost
A journalist-activist team headed on Friday to Yemen's province of Abyan in the south to mediate the release of 73 soldiers who were taken as hostage during al-Qaida raids on military posts in March.
The delegation included activists from the HOOD and al-Karama organizations, which earlier this month said al-Qaida was threatening to execute the soldiers. The two organizations said in a statement al-Qaida had decided to execute the soldiers if demands including the release of terrorists held inside the political security prisons were not met.
Six days ago, al-Qaida set April 30 as the final deadline to meet its demands or it would execute the soldiers; ten a week. Meantime, the organizations have appealed to the authorities to stop shelling areas in Abyan to enable the team to reach the place where the soldiers are held. a spokesman for the team said the three-day mission of the journalist-activist team aims to secure the release of the soldiers before April 30 and the results will be released immediately.
Also, Human Rights Watch has recently urged al-Qaida to avoid extrajudicial executions of the soldiers because killing can't be a card of negotiation. Killing soldiers or civilians violates the laws of war and al-Qaida in Yemen should not bet on the lives of people to make gains, the US-based organization said.
Early last month, al-Qaida fighters raided some army posts in the Doufas area, Abyan, killing and taking as hostages scores of soldiers. They also looted military equipment. The army, with direct support from the US and popular fighters, has been fighting the militants in southern and southeastern regions including Abyan, Shabwa and Baida.
Hundreds of militants have been recently killed and injured in the battles, mostly in Abyan, amid expanded military operations against militancy under the new government.
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Sana'a: Al Qaida-linked group that controls many towns in southern Yemen said on Saturday that it would set free 73 soldiers , a local tribal leader told Gulf News.
Ansar Al Sharia , an Al Qaida offshoot in Yemen , announced that they decided to release the hostages for "the sake of God and in response to the appeals of the soldiers' families and the tribal mediation". The militants invited on Friday reporters, mediators, human rights activists and the soldiers' relatives to their stronghold, Ja'ar, to decide whether to release or behead the captives.
"The soldiers will be handed to their families who came to Ja'ar to receive them," the tribal figure said.
The soldiers were captured early last month when Al Qaida militants launched an assault on an army camp in Abyan province. At least 200 soldiers were also killed in the same attack. This week, Al Qaida announced in Ja'ar town that it would kill ten soldiers each week if the government does not release jailed militants.
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