6 foreigners said freed from captivity in Yemen

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels have released six foreigners they were holding hostage and they are flying out of the country’s capital Sanaa, airport officials and Houthi officials say.

The airport and Houthi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, say the six are flying to the Gulf nation of Oman, which negotiated their release.

The officials say the hostages, who were detained earlier this year, are three Americans, two Saudis and a British national. The identities of the hostages are not currently known.

Officials from the Houthi media center refused to explain why they had detained the hostages. But at least one of them is a journalist, whom they say “entered the country illegally” and “worked without notifying the authorities.”

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam refuses to confirm the hostages’ release.

“If we were to release anyone, it would be in exchange for the release of Houthis,” he says, without specifying which authorities he is addressing.

The conflicting information cannot be reconciled at this time.

— AP