Yemen tribesmen release kidnapped soldiers

Yemeni tribesmen have freed 11 soldiers after receiving an assurance from a senior commander that he would raise their demand for the release of a clansman, a military source said on Friday. The soldiers, two of them officers, were released on Thursday evening after successful negotiations between Fourth Region commander General Mohammed Sobeihi and the kidnappers from the Al-Marakisha tribe, the source said. The 11 had been abducted on Tuesday and Wednesday in the southern province of Abyan. The general undertook to raise with the central government the kidnappers' demand for the release of clansman Ahmed al-Marakisha, who was arrested in 2008 and is on death row for murder, the source added. Yemen's powerful tribes frequently seize hostages for use as bargaining counters in disputes with the central government. Foreigners are sometimes among those kidnapped. Nearly all have been released unharmed.