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Yemen:Freed hostages contradict Yemeni government account30 December 1998Tourists freed after the shootout that killed four of their colleagues said on 30 December the battle started when Yemeni security forces attacked the gunmen who were holding the foreigners hostage. Their accounts appeared to contradict the official Yemeni government's Yemen said security forces only opened fire Tuesday after the kidnappers began killing some of the hostages at a camp in southern Yemen. Meanwhile, four German hostages who had been held captive by Yemeni tribesmen Dec. 7 were set free on 30 December. The three women and one man were reported to be in good condition and were en route to the Yemeni capital of San'a. Meanwhile tourists who had been abducted Monday told reporter s that once the attack began, the kidnappers tried to use their prisoners as shields and eventually shot two of the captives in "revenge killings" as they fled. "The worst time for me was that time when a barrel was pointed at my chest. I said, 'No, no, no," recounted Eric Firkin, who said a fellow captive, a woman, was shot dead in front of him. Mr Firkin, 55, from Croyden, 16 miles south of London England, said he was with a group of 11 hostages. The kidnappers had split their 16 captives into two groups and Mr Firkin and Brian Smith, another hostage, said they did not know how the other group had come under attack. Both men said their group wound up in the middle of a gun battle after government troops opened fire on the kidnappers as they fled with their hostages. "We were being led into the mountains to a hiding. Then we heard the gunfire," said Mr Firkin, a chemistry professor. He and Mr Smith were interviewed today at a hotel in the southern port of Aden. Mr Smith, 52, a postal worker from Peterborough 50 Miles North of London, England, said the gun battle went on for about two hours, with bullets whizzing over the heads of the hostages. Yemeni officials said one of those captured was the leader of the group, Osama al-Masri of Egypt. In Cairo, Egyptian security sources said the name was the alias of a wanted Islamic extremist. The officials said the kidnappers belonged to Islamic Jihad, a group of 200 based in a camp in south Yemen. |
