Free at last

Eleven months after being kidnapped by suspected Shiite rebels in Yemen, two German girls have been freed and are undergoing medical examinations, according to a statement by the Saudi interior ministry on Tuesday.

"Security forces in communication with Yemen counterparts were able to recover two German girls in the border region between the two countries on Monday," the ministry said through the SPA news agency.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed the release of the girls and expressed his relief.

"The two girls are in the safe keeping of the Saudi authorities," he told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday morning. "Considering the circumstances, they are doing well."

Westerwelle added that the girls are to return to Germany on Wednesday, and that the German government was doing all it could to clarify the situation with the remaining hostages.

"We are hoping for a happy outcome and will continue to do everything possible toward that end," he said.

Group kidnapping

The girls were part of a group that was kidnapped in mid-June last year. In total, a German couple from Saxony, their three children, a British engineer, two German nurses and a South Korean teacher were kidnapped.

Both aid workers and the teacher were found dead in the northwestern Saada province along the Saudi border, heightening worries for the safety of the other hostages.

The German couple has reportedly worked for a public hospital in Saada since 2003. They, along with their third child and the Briton, are still unaccounted for.

acb/dpa/AFP
Editor: Martin Kuebler