A French official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been kidnapped by armed men while traveling from northern Yemen to the Red Sea port city of Hudaida.
Dibeh Fakhr, an ICRC spokeswoman in Sanaa, said on Saturday that the man who works in the northern city of Saada was kidnapped late on Saturday some 30 km from Hudaida.
"He was with two Yemeni drivers who the kidnappers released shortly afterwards," Fakhr said.
"Until now we have no contact with the kidnappers or our employee," she added.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the kidnapping but seizing foreigners or Yemenis is common in
Yemen, and most hostages are freed unharmed.
Continued clashes
In another development, Yemen's military regained part of a strategic southern city on Saturday after an intense battle with al-Qaeda left 19 people dead as the government tries to purge the fighters from their strongholds, officials said.
The battle in Zinjibar is part of attempts by the Yemeni government to regain parts of the country it lost to al-Qaeda militants who took advantage of last year's chaotic uprising against longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh to
seize new ground.
Military and medical officials said that 12 militants and seven troops died and nearly 30 militants were injured during the battle with Yemeni forces, who took control of the eastern part of Zinjibar.
The war on al-Qaeda is one of the most challenging tests facing Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Yemen's new president.
He took power after Saleh stepped down in February as part of power-transfer deal brokered by Arab Gulf countries and backed by the United States.
The US believes al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch is the most dangerous arm of the group because of its repeated attempts to carry out attacks in the United States.
Al Jazeera
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