Al-Qaeda behind Iranian diplomat kidnap: Yemeni security officer

Iran Press TV

Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:38PM GMT

A Yemeni security officer says al-Qaeda militants are suspected of having abducted Iranian diplomat Nour Ahmad Nikbakht in Sana'a.

'There are suspicions that al-Qaeda is behind the kidnapping,' AFP quoted a Yemeni security officer as saying.

Police sources said on Sunday that unknown gunmen kidnapped a staff member of Iran's Embassy in Sana'a. The diplomat was travelling through the diplomatic quarter in southern Sana'a when armed men blocked the road, forced him to get out of his vehicle and took him to an unknown location.

The Police said that a search was under way to try to locate the diplomat who was snatched in the street near the Iranian Embassy in the southern Hadda district of the capital.

On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Yemeni charge d'affaires to Tehran to convey the Islamic Republic's serious concern over the fate of the kidnapped diplomat and to remind the Yemeni government's responsibility about the issue.

Also in a telephone conversation with his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr al-Qirbion on the same day, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi slammed the kidnapping as "inhumane" and urged the Sana'a government to take serious measures to secure his release.

The top Iranian official said the host country is responsible for ensuring the safety of diplomats under international treaties and conventions and called on the Yemeni government to fulfill its duties and responsibilities in this regard.

AR/KA/SL