Japan thanks Yemen for saving hostages

TOKYO (AFP) - - Japan on Thursday thanked Yemen for its quick action in securing the release of two Japanese women taken hostage by tribesmen, as relatives back home eagerly waited to hear from them.

"We are truly grateful to the Yemeni government which helped in an early resolution," Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters after the hostage-taking crisis ended in half a day.

While confirming the women were unharmed, Onodera noted that Japan had earlier recommended that its tourists not to go to Yemen.

"The foreign ministry strongly wants (Japanese tourists) to refrain from going to this region," he said.

The two women were seized Wednesday as they travelled by road to the site of the ancient Marib Dam, a major tourist draw, a Yemeni official told AFP.

The Japanese ministry said an embassy official had spoken with the women by telephone to confirm their identities and safety.

They are identified as Keiko Mishima, 41, from Tokyo and Shizuko Endo, 44, from the southern city of Fukuoka.

Mishima's mother, Sakae, said she was relieved to hear her daughter was safe.

"I'm able to breathe again after hearing they were freed. As I haven't talked to my daughter, however, I can't be fully relieved," the 62-year-old mother told the Jiji Press news agency.

The mother said her daughter frequently went abroad on holidays.

"Normally I only ask her where she's going. I never dreamed she would get into trouble," she said.

The Yemeni official said the kidnappers had been demanding the release by the central government of a member of the tribe who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in an April bombing which killed three policemen in Marib.

Foreigners are frequently seized by Yemen's powerful tribes for use as bargaining chips in disputes with the central government. More than 200 have been abducted over the past 15 years.

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