Yemeni journalist kidnapped

YEMEN: Three unidentified gunmen kidnapped a Yemeni freelance journalist specialising in reporting on al Qaeda on a street in the capital late Sunday, an eyewitness said.

Abdulelah Shai was outside a Chinese restaurant in Sanaa when three armed men jumped out of a car and forced him to get into the vehicle which then sped off, Yemeni journalist Kamal Sharaf, who was with Shai at the time, told Reuters.

Police opened an investigation into the abduction but did not say who they thought was responsible.

Yemen's Journalist Syndicate said the kidnappers might be tribesmen angered by Shai's reporting on the relationship of some tribes with the Yemeni wing of the militant group al Qaeda.

Sanaa, Monday, Reuters