Militants hold 9 hostages in Yemen

Yemeni militants kidnapped three soldiers, and six minefield workers Tuesday, in the area of al-Jouf, south of Sanaa. According to tribal sources, the nine individuals are being held hostage by militants who seek to pressurise the government into releasing detainees belonging to their tribe. In a separate incident, unknown gunmen occupied a governmental building in the aforementioned region on Monday evening - but the governor and several employees were able to escape. According to local sources, gunmen said they had a problem with the local authorities being biased in dealing with some local issue.