CAMPAIGN RELEASING TWO CHINESE EXPERTS

SHABWA, May 17 (Saba) - Shabwa Governor Ali al-Ahmedi said on Monday
that a security campaign had headed for the Hada district, Shabwa,
to release two Chinese experts and two Yemeni soldiers and two
drivers who were abducted on Sunday.

He urged the kidnappers to free the six abductees without conditions
and hand themselves to the authorities.

The governor said the kidnappers have been identified as people from
the Laqmoush tribe.

Earlier he was quoted by the Almotamar website as saying that a
mediation was underway to release the two Chinese experts who were
abducted in the eastern province of Shabwa on Sunday.

The foreigners were working for a Chinese petroleum firm operating
at the Almasila oil field.

The kidnapping, the first this year, took place in the district of
Azzan and the hostages were taken to the mountainous Hada area,
according to the website.

The two cars carrying the six people were intercepted by armed
people from the Laqmoush tribe when one of the experts was going to
Mukalla for a vacation and the second heading to his workplace after
ending his vacation in Mukalla.

According to the website, the kidnapping came to pressure the
authorities to take legal measures or traditional arbitration after
a tribesman from the clan was shot and injured at a security
checkpoint almost a month ago.

FR