SANAA, Jan 2: Yemeni tribesmen holding five Italian tourists threatened on Monday to kill the hostages if government forces besieging their hideout launched an assault, a tribal source close to the captors said.

“The captors threatened to kill the Italian tourists if government forces take the initiative of bombarding or raiding their hideout,” said a source from the Al-Zaydi tribe, close to the hostage-takers.

And a similar threat was published in a statement by one of the alleged hostage-takers on a private Internet site close to Yemeni tribes, “Mareb Press.”

“Mohammed Mabkhout al-Zaydi threatened to kill the Italian tourists and has claimed the freedom of tribesmen detained” in Yemeni government prisons, said the statement.

But Italy’s Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Rome had confirmation that the tourists were “in good health” and being well treated.—AFP