Several UN Staff Abducted in Yemen’s Abyan Province - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Six UN workers have been kidnapped in southern Yemen, the Yemen Press Agency (YPA) reports.

The UN staff, which included five Yemeni nationals and one Bulgarian, were abducted on Friday in Abyan Governorate. The kidnappers drove the UN workers to an unknown location, local sources told YPA on Saturday.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but, according to local media reports, members of the local branch of al-Qaeda* could be behind the abduction.

According to YPA, the International Rescue Committee announced that it was suspending its humanitarian work in Yemen’s Abyan last year, after two of the aid organization's vehicles were robbed by unidentified militants.

Yemen has been gripped by an internal conflict between the government forces and the Houthi movement for over six years. Since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition fighting on the government's side has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the rebels. The Houthis often retaliate by firing projectiles and bomber drones on Saudi territory. The United Nations has described the situation in Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

*Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other states