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Kidnapped Al Jazeera Journalists Freed in Yemen | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Palestinian journalists are seen through a glass window at the offices of the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera in the West Bank city of Ramallah July 15, 2009. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri/Files


Palestinian journalists are seen through a glass window at the offices of the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera in the West Bank city of Ramallah July 15, 2009. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri/Files

Palestinian journalists are seen through a glass window at the offices of the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera in the West Bank city of Ramallah July 15, 2009. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri/Files

After 10 days of being abducted by gunmen in the southwestern city of Taiz, two journalists and a driver who work for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Arabic TV channel were freed in Yemen on Thursday, the network reported.

In a news report on its website, The Doha-based channel said that the anonymous kidnappers released correspondent Hamdi Al-Bokari, cameraman Abdulaziz Al-Sabri and driver Moneer Al-Sabai.

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are fighting Iran-allied Houthi militia and loyalists of the country’s former leader in a ravaging war that has been tearing the country for nine months killing around 6,000 people.

Al Jazeera, which gained millions of viewers by reporting the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East, has witnessed several of its journalists detained and killed in the past years in conflicts across the region.

Qatar is a member of the Saudi-led coalition backing President Hadi, which aims to advance on the capital Sanaa through Taiz from its base in the southern port city of Aden, taken from the Houthis in July.

Hadi and his government are headquartered in Yemen’s second largest city Aden, where dozens of policemen and security officials were assassinated by gunmen broadly believed to be Islamist militants.

Dozens of armored vehicles accompanied by troops from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Aden’s port on Wednesday, security officials said.

“The deployment of the vehicles and soldiers is part of a comprehensive plan to combat the security vacuum and the assassination cells who have been operating in the city,” a Yemeni security official said.

Representatives of the Saudi-led coalition were requested to comment on the landing, but they did not immediately respond.