“Rebels charge that Yemen’s hunt for abductors is sham”
The rebels deny kidnapping the foreigners, say security’s announcement of “hunting” for the victims is a sham.
The government’s massive campaign to blame the rebels lacks authenticity, considering the chrages were made with no investigation or proof. The three day delay in expanding the search beyond Sa’ada is bizarre.
Earth Times: A rebel group in Yemen which denies any role in recent abductions there has charged via a statement on their website that government efforts to save the hostages are a sham. The rebels led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi alleged that two suspects had been tortured by Yemen’s political security forces into uttering a false claim that the rebels were to blame for the June 12 abduction of nine westerners, of whom three were then murdered.
Al-Houthi’s Shiite rebels, who are based in Saada province, put the statement online Thursday evening.
They commented that the likelihood of finding the German family of five and a British engineer were low, because the abductors would fear capture. No one has claimed responsibility for the crime.
The rebels also quoted local eyewitnesses saying that there had never been a systematic search of the region where the westerners were abducted or of the valley where the bodies of three murdered women were found.
